Aspirin May Increase Women's Survival From Late Stage Ovarian Cancer [Study]

Woman suffering from ovarian cancer may increase their rate of survival by taking low doses of aspirin regularly, according to a new study.

Aspirin for Ovarian Cancer Survival

A team of researchers led by QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute wanted to find out how aspirin could help women survive ovarian cancer after diagnosis. They learned that patients who took aspirin, which is widely available in supermarkets, for two and a half months increased their survival rate.

Study lead author Azam Majidi and her colleagues examined aspirin's potential against ovarian cancer, not at the cell level but in real patients. They gathered information through self-completed questionnaires and classified how frequently the participants used non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), which include aspirin and ibuprofen, during their pre-diagnosis and post-diagnosis.

Majidi said they decided to study aspirin's potential against ovarian cancer because they previously discovered that when aspirin was added to a tumor cell, the growth was reduced, ABC.net reported.

They measured the survival from either start or 12 months into treatment until the patient succumbed to cancer. They observed that women who took NSAIDs had better survival.

According to Majidi, women who took the medication added a week or a month to their survival, which is a huge time. She noted that aspirin is a cheap medication that has been used in public and has been proven safe.

The expert added that aspirin increasing women's survival from ovarian cancer is a big discovery, especially since there is no screening test for ovarian cancer and around 70% of diagnosis is at advanced stages where survival is really low.

Majidi, however, emphasized that aspirin may not be safe for everyone to take. So, she suggested that patients talk to a doctor before using them.

The study was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Fallopian Tube Removal to Avoid Ovarian Cancer

According to Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance (OCRA), ovarian cancer is usually detected at a very advanced stage. Since there are no effective screenings to detect it early enough to save lives, the organization suggests the removal of Fallopian tubes to avoid the disease.

The researchers examined over 25,000 individuals from British Columbia who had opportunistic salpingectomy (OS), a procedure for the removal of Fallopian tubes, between 2008 and 2017. They compared the results from a control group of over 31,000 participants who had undergone hysterectomy alone or tubal ligation.

They noticed no single serous ovarian cancer in the group of those who underwent OS.

Senior author Dr. Gillian E. Hanley of The University of British Columbia and the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute said OS appears to be an effective way to prevent ovarian cancer. They hoped that the study would encourage more women to get it and physicians to recommend the procedure during pelvic surgeries where the Fallopian tubes are accessible.

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