Saturday, April 7, 2012

Is Aspirin Cancer Prevention All It Is Cracked Up to Be?

The choice not to become a physician was something I regretted after some dear to me fell prey to cancer. Since we have nothing that can really stop cancer in its tracks, though, I might not have been capable of doing much even then. Fortunately, developments in medicine have brought us closer to a possible preventative substance, as found in aspirin cancer prevention possibilities.

According to recent medical findings and based on a body of evidence, the cheap and often overlooked aspirin can help prevent cancer and reduce the risk of dying from it. Since this medicament is so cheap and widely distributed, the research was welcomed by medical experts all over the globe. Had this only been common knowledge at the time that we discovered my dad's illness, we might have spared him some of the pain.

Still, aspirin has no power to take away cancer: it only prevents its occurrence. The regular but limited consumption of aspirin was shown to be related to the reduction of chances of cancer affliction. And indeed, even those who already had it seemed to react by getting slower metastasis.

The many sub-types of the ailment apparently have varying reactions to the drug. There were some types that simply seemed to be more hindered than others, like the cancers found in lungs or the colon. My loved one perished from cancerous cells in his colon.

Meanwhile, a research study led by Oxford professor Dr. Peter M. Rothwell observed that the risk of esophageal cancer was reduced by a staggering 75% and of the common colorectal cancer by 40-50%. The studies tell us that it is not too late for people to truly begin to think of this medicine as one that could help us avoid cancer. With such developments, a few doctors, medical experts and researchers are almost ready to proclaim that taking aspirin for cancer works, but it is not without harmful side effects.

The body may not react too well to this medicine if you try to give it too much. Aspirin in unregulated doses has negative effects on certain internal organs, causing them to bleed. The lethal nature of these potential overdose results should warn you not to take too much of the drug.

Quite a lot of persons in medicine remain uncertain at the moment about the substance. A few studies in the US indicate, after all, that there was no connection between aspirin consumption and lower cancer possibilities. Since these studies did not administer aspirin every day to the subjects, however, they are considered suspect.

That said, some people wonder if the research from the other side of the fence can be trusted considering it was originally intended to be about aspirin's ability to lower cardiac risks. Patients with cardiovascular problems in North America are often told to take baby aspirin. Cancerous cells are quite another matter, though.

A qualified stance is perhaps the best one in this matter, as with many other yet-experimental notes in medicine. There are people like the CMO of the American Cancer Society, who has indicated his belief that the researchers could be coming close to something very useful, yet has not indicated support for aspirin as a preventive drug at the moment. The general idea, as a Harvard-based professional noted, is that the research is meant to stimulate more research that can give us a final answer as to whether or not it can really help us.

Personally, I cannot provide a comment on the science behind these matters, as I am not qualified for it. That said, I feel the absence of my own cancer-stricken relative keenly enough to be eager about anything that could bring down the possibility of cancer for others. I hope that with time and more research on aspirin cancer will become less common.



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