David Disalvo’s article, “Daily Aspirin Cuts Hereditary Cancer Risk in Half,” highlights a recently discovered, possibly life changing use for Aspirin. For years, Aspirin has been looked upon as the miracle drug. It has been known to prevent heart attack, heart disease, and stroke. But, now, it appears that Aspirin can even do one more thing, help cure cancer. In a study carried out by researchers Queens University and Newcastle University in the United Kingdom found that taking two aspiring per day reduced the risk of colon cancer by more than 60% for those who had a family history of the disease. In this study, around 1,000 patients in 16 countries were tracked for more than 4 years, and these people who were tracked, were mainly those with Lynch syndrome, an inherited genetic disorder that causes cancer by affecting genes responsible for detecting and repairing DNA damage. Moreover, among 50% of people who have Lynch syndrome develop cancer, and it is estimated that this syndrome causes 3% of the 600,000 cases of colon cancer in the United States every year. Given that colon cancer is second leading cause of cancer related death in the US, the fact that any of these deaths can possibly be prevented is a huge find, and the effectiveness of aspiring in fighting all types of cancer should be further examined. Lastly, it appeared that Aspirin was effective in it’s fight against caner by destroying pre-cancerous cells, causing them to self-destruct, before they can become deleterious and cancerous.
There are however, some serious issues with this study in general. First and foremost, Bayer, the maker of Aspirin, sponsored the study and so the company undoubtedly wants to get out the drugs name with an ability to cure cancer. Next, the amount of Aspirin taken by those involved in the study is enormous. The normal recommended dosage per day to help prevent heart attack is 80mg per day, whereas patients in this study took 600mg per day, in two 300mg dosages. This much aspirin can cause problems related to degradation of stomach lining, such as ulcers, and bleeding complications. Furthermore, Aspirin in dosages that are this large can also prevent beneficial blood clotting. Finally, this study can’t be generalized to all types of people and all types of cancer, for this experiment was performed on a very small, select group of individuals all with the same genetic problem. Certainly, in the future, scientists will perform more experiments trying to see if Aspirin can in fact help fight other types of cancers. All in all, this is a very encouraging find, which must be further studied and examined.
I felt that the author did a very good job conveying the details in the study, and how the experiment was performed. However, I was also pleased that he presented possible negative sides to the drugs ability to cure cancer, and how this study must be taken with a grain of salt. He made it possible for the lay reader to understand the experiment in detail and explaining how the aspirin fights the cancer, without getting into too much complicated terminology.
DiSalvo, David. "Study: Daily Aspirin Cuts Hereditary Cancer Risk in Half - Forbes." Information for the World's Business Leaders - Forbes.com. 31 Oct. 2011. Web. 01 Nov. 2011.
Carty Caruso
ReplyDelete11-1-11
Comment
I think Ian did a great job of reviewing this article. I like the detail that he presented about the article, particularly those details that were about the causes of cancer. I didn’t know about many of the percentages that he listed. I also like the way he presented the procedure of the experiment very well. I think that if I had the resources that I could have repeated the experiment myself. I also enjoyed reading Ian’s opinion on the fact that the amount of aspirin could be dangerous. I think that Ian could have been a bit more informative on the background of the experiment, this caused some confusion. I think that Ian also could have been a bit more faithful in the article, he thought that the study should be “...taken with a grain of salt...”. I was very impressed with the results of the study, I had no idea that aspirin could help cure hereditary cancer.
I thought that Ian did an excellent job reviewing the article, “Study: Daily Aspirin Cuts Hereditary Cancer Risks in Half.” He included the findings of the study, and explained the way in which this data had been arrived at. The data Ian provided was very specific, using specific numbers from the article, which were of vital importance for any reader interested in the topic. In addition, Ian also included various criticisms of these conclusions, and possible negative effects. Based on this information that Ian brilliantly summarized, I feel that his conclusion that we must view this study “with a grain of salt” was very accurate and insightful. However, I think that Ian should have spend more time analyzing how these finds relate to average people in our every day lives. While he mentioned the positive and negatives of the trial, and did talk about the dangers of liver cancer, I felt that Ian should have weighed the consequences against the risks. This error analysis, given his earlier statistics about colon cancer, would have been an interesting perspective to ad. Another area in which Ian could have improved was writing mechanics, as there were a few errors, such as substituting the word Aspirin with Aspiring. This article and Ian’s review made me aware of new steps that are being made towards beating cancer. Unlike many diseases that advanced American medicine has been able to successfully combat, Cancer can still penetrate any home. It was interesting to learn that a drug as common as Aspirin could be the key to beating such a devastating disease that is at this moment taking a devastating toll on lives around the world. I also learned that this medicine is spelled “Aspirin” not “Asprin.”
ReplyDeleteI thought that Ian’s review of “Study: Daily Aspirin Cuts Hereditary Cancer Risk in Half” was both informative and well written. I liked how Ian included some background information on aspirin and some of its other uses as well as talking about the newfound uses for it. Ian did a great job of including the actual numbers behind the study and his evidence for why aspiring might be a key step to fighting cancer was certainly compelling. I also liked how Ian included what some of the possible dangers of taking daily doses of aspirin are as well as establishing the bias for the study as the company who makes aspirin, Bayer, carried out the study.
ReplyDeleteOne thing Ian could have done better is talk about whether any other studies with aspirin have been performed to test its effectiveness in other types of cancer. Also, although Ian presented the two sides of the case very well, he did not really come down on either side, which would have been a nice touch.
This article showed me that even the most common household drugs can still have effects that we are entirely unaware of. Nobody would really anticipate that aspirin would be the next step in treating cancer, but apparently it does. I will be very interested to read about further studies into the matter.