Over-the-counter aspirin may help extend the life of some colon cancer patients, says a new study from researchers at Boston's Dana Farber Cancer Institute. For the study lead researcher Shuji Ogino and colleagues examined 964 colorectal cancer patients.
They found that 15 to 20 percent carry a specific gene mutation called PIK3CA. Those with this gene mutation who reported regular use of aspirin enjoyed an 82 percent decreased risk of death resulting from the condition and 46 percent overall decrease in death risk.
"Aspirin appears to work to increase survival of colorectal cancer patients if the tumor has the PIK3CA mutation, but it does not work if the tumor does not have the mutation," Ogino tells webmd.com.
Their data was published this week in the The New England Journal of Medicine.
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