• 6/9/2004
  • NEW ORLEANS , LA
  • By Stacie Overton
  • Ivanhoe Newswire

Those anti-inflammatory drugs you’re taking may be doing more good than you thought, according to researchers presenting at this year’s annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in New Orleans. They could provide protection against a deadly cancer.

Oral cancer is often related to tobacco and has a high mortality rate. Available data suggest aspirin, a type of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, has a protective effect on esophageal cancer, but only scattered data exist on whether or not it is useful in protecting against oral cancer.

Jon Sudbø, from the Norwegian Radium Hospital in Oslo, presented results of a study to determine how protective NSAIDs were against oral cancer. More than 450 people with oral cancer were included in the study. They were compared to a closely matched set of people without oral cancer, but who were at high risk of the disease.

Among those with oral cancer, less than 20 percent had a history of NSAID use. Comparatively, more than 40 percent of those who were at high risk — but did not have cancer — had a history of NSAID use. Overall, there was a 65-percent reduction in oral cancer risk with extended use of NSAIDs, and all types of NSAIDs had a protective effect.

The NSAIDs used were one of the following: aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen, indomethacin, piroxicam or ketoprofen.

Sudbø says, “Clearly, there is a protective effect of NSAIDs against oral cancer.” Sudbø collaborated on the study with colleagues from the Norwegian Radium Hospital, the University of Texas in Austin, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and Cornell University in New York.

SOURCE: Stacie Overton at the 40th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in New Orleans, June 5-8, 2004