Aspirin therapy in addition to radiation therapy or surgery for prostate cancer can reduce a patient’s risk of death by over 50%, researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas will reveal tomorrow at the American Society for Radiation Oncology’s 52nd Annual Meeting.

The scientists will explain details on a study which examined data on over 5,000 patients with cancer that had not spread beyond the prostate gland – localized cancer.

Lead author, Kevin Choe, M.D., Ph.D.,said:

Evidence has shown that anticoagulants may interfere with cancer growth and spread. If the major effect of anticoagulants is preventing metastasis (the ability of cancer cells to spread to other parts of the body), this may be why previous clinical trials with anticoagulation medications produced mixed results, since most patients in these trials already had metastasis. If the cancer has already metastasized, then anticoagulants may not be as beneficial.

The investigators examined data from the CaPSURE (Cancer of the Prostate Strategic Urological Research Endeavor) database. They wanted to determine whether anticoagulants, blood-thinning drugs such as aspirin, enoxaparin, warfarin, and/or clopidogrel had any impact on prostate cancer deaths among patients whose cancer had not metastasized (spread).

They specifically assessed data on 5,275 patients with localized prostate cancer who had either received radiation therapy or surgery – the two most common medical procedures for prostate cancer.

1,982 of the patients received anticoagulants. They were also classified as having high, intermediate or low-risk disease.

The researchers found that among those on anticoagulants:

The risk of dying from prostate cancer at 10 years went down from 10% to 4%

Their risk of developing bone metastasis was significantly reduced

Those with high-risk prostate cancer benefited the most. As treatment options for patients with high-risk cancer are limited, the authors say this is great news.

Aspirin offered greater benefits than the other anticoagulants

Kevin Choe said:

Findings from this study are promising, however, further studies are necessary before the addition of aspirin to prostate cancer therapy becomes standard treatment.

Source: American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO)

Written by Christian Nordqvist