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By David Olmos Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) -- A once-daily dose of aspirin could reduce the risk of developing polyps that can be the precursors to colorectal cancer, researchers said. People who took aspirin were 28 percent less likely to develop advanced adenomas, a type of precancerous polyp, than those who took a placebo, or dummy medication, according to a study by Bernard Cole<http://www.cems.uvm.edu/~ccole/>of the University of Vermont and colleagues. The team analyzed data from four previous studies involving nearly 2,700 patients and also found the pill-takers were 17 percent less likely to develop any type of adenoma, the analysis found. Colorectal cancer is responsible for 639,000 deaths worldwide, according to the World Health Organization<http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs297/en/index.html>. A key to preventing cancer is detecting polyps through screening tests and removing them before they turn cancerous, researchers said. "Probably all colon cancers start off as these lesions or adenomas, and if they are not resected they can develop into colon cancer," Cole, a professor of statistics at the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont, said in a telephone interview. The study should help clarify earlier research that suggested regular use of aspirin could have a benefit in preventing polyps, Cole said today. The research, previously reported by Reuters, was published in the Feb. 18 Journal of the National Cancer Institute, <http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/> Lowered Risk The "substantial size" of the lowered risk of developing colon cancer "indicates the potentially important health benefits of aspirin use," the authors wrote in the study. The research was funded by German aspirin maker Bayer AG. <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=BAYER%3AGR> Patients in the study, who were followed for an average of three years, had a history of colorectal cancer or polyps. Regular aspirin use for patients with no prior history of colorectal polyps would probably not be recommended by doctors due to the increased risk of bleeding associated with the medicine, Cole said. "A good time to bring up aspirin use with your doctor is following a colonoscopy," a diagnostic test used to detect polyps, Cole said. How aspirin works to prevent polyps is "not well understood," though one theory is that the pathway to carcinogenesis is somehow interrupted by aspirin, Cole said." http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601124&sid=aUWLkNXEN0kM&refer=science --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Cosmology, Mathematics and Philosophy" group. To post to this group, send email to cosmology-mathematics-and-philosophy@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cosmology-mathematics-and-philosophy+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cosmology-mathematics-and-philosophy?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---