A lowly medicine aspirin could help prevent oesophageal cancer among those at a high risk of the disease, new research suggests. Oesophagus cancer is linked to Chronic acid reflex and can be prevented by a low dose of aspirin.
Patients living with Barrett’s oesophagus – a condition linked to chronic acid reflux – are more likely to go on to develop the cancer, which kills thousands every year.
But regularly taking a high dose of anti-acid reflux medication and a low dose of aspirin could help reduce this risk, according to the results of a Cancer Research UK-funded study.
Patients who used this over-the-counter medicine combination for at least seven years were around 20 per cent less likely to develop oesophageal cancer than if they had been untreated, the research found.
“Our results are very exciting. Oesophageal cancer is hard to diagnose and hard to treat,” Professor Janusz Jankowski, lead author of the study, said.
“So, we’re pleased that such a cheap and well-established medicine can prevent and, or, delay development of cancer for these patients.”
However, experts stressed only those with diagnosed Barrett’s oesophagus, not those who experience mild acid reflux, should consider the treatment.
The findings have been presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting in Chicago.
The Aspect trial tracked more than 2,500 people with Barrett’s oesophagus from British and Canadian hospitals for around nine years.
Patients were split into four groups and given high or low dose of widely used Proton Pump Inhibitor (PPI) esomeprazole, which reduces the production of stomach acid, with or without a low dose of aspirin.
The most effective treatment was a high dose of the PPI and a low dose of aspirin, the study found, followed by a high dose of esomeprazole.
