A new study says Aspirin almost doubles the survival chances of people afflicted with cancer.
Around 75% of patients who took daily doses of Aspirin were still alive five years after being diagnosed with bowel, stomach, pancreatic or throat cancers. Comparatively, the rate of survival for cancer sufferers who don’t take Aspirin drops to 42%.
Experts have dubbed it a ‘magic bullet’, and should be prescribed as soon as cancer is detected.
Today’s findings support past studies that’ve found aspirin preserving prostate, breast and lung cancer patients.
“Given that aspirin is a cheap, unbranded drug with relatively few side-effects, this will have a great impact on healthcare systems as well as patients,” said Martine Frouws, who led the research involving 14,000 adults.
She also noted it would be a substantially cheaper alternative to what’s being recommended by medical researchers right now.
The research by the Leiden University Medical Centre will be presented at the European Cancer Congress in Vienna today.
“Aspirin may serve as the magic bullet because it can target and prevent ischaemic heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease, the three major health catastrophes in the third millennium,” explained congress spokesman Professor Nadir Arber.
In a similar study last week, American researchers announced they would begin testing whether aspirin stops breast cancer from returning in women. The Boston team believes the pill can increase survival chances by up to 50%.
The wonder drug is already being prescribed by doctors to avert heart attacks, and to prevent blood clots from forming.
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