Aspirin and Colon Cancer
A recent study published in The New England Journal of Medicine describes how Aspirin use was linked to increased survival of colon cancer patients whose tumors had mutations in the PIK3CA gene. Almost all patients with this mutation who took aspirin regularly were still alive five years after diagnosis, compared to just 3 out of 4 patients with the same mutation who took aspirin infrequently or did not take it at all.
This is great news for people fighting this deadly disease. Unfortunately, aspirin use increased survival in only 15% of all colorectal cancer patients, because most colorectal cancer patients do not have tumors that carry this specific gene mutation. Also, daily use of aspirin can cause severe side effects including anaphylaxis, angioedema, bronchospasm and Gi bleeding, which can be life threatening, and the irreversible anti-platelet effect can make this bleeding especially difficult to manage.
The good news is that other inexpensive and non-toxic therapy options, for those that did not benefit from aspirin, are still available to colorectal cancer patients. For instance, Fermented Wheat Germ Extract (FWGE) has excellent results with late stage colorectal patients including:
- 82% reduction in new recurrences
- 67% reduction in metastasis
- 62% reduction in deaths
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12888813
According to this research, FWGE helped colorectal cancer patients because it stopped the tumor’s growth by cutting off its fuel; glucose. Without glucose, tumors can’t grow. And, because almost all cancers are fed by glucose, FWGE can help all forms of colorectal cancer, no matter the genetic mutation.
For further research on FWGE, go to http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=avemar
