Friday, March 9

Rethinking Colon Cancer Prevention

A study came out a while back touting aspirin therapy as a way to stave off colon cancer. Well, not quite.
The latest study on this relationship says, most of us should not be using NSAIDS for this reason.
The study, done at the University of Calgary along with the U.S. Preventive Services Task force, shows NSAIDS ( non steroidal anti inflammatory drugs like aspirin and ibuprofen) can prevent some colo-rectal cancer but not enough to outweigh the increase in nasty side effects like stomach bleeding.
The bottom line: - aspirin does appear mildly effective at reducing the incidence of colo rectal cancer (crc) - but it had to be used in high doses for 10 years - so the protection was offset by the risk of stomach damage.
This recommendation against NSAID use is directed at people with no symptoms of crc or those with a family history. HOWEVER. .the NSAID therapy is still considered ' a go' for people with a history of polyps, Lynch syndrome or familial adenomatous polyposis.
And after all's said and done, you know the drill .. TTYD ( talk to your doctor)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Truly, I was dreading my colonoscopy and put it off for four YEARS - ultimately it was merely a blip (and fortunately negative) - less painful than a headache. The trick was to look at the preparation instructions and stop eating solids about 48 hours before the test instead of one day - so there was really nothing to it, nothing to clean out - and the process was easy. DON'T PUT IT OFF!