Aspirin and colorectal cancer prevention in Lynch syndrome

摘要

More than 600000 people worldwide die of colorectal cancer annually, making development of effective preventive agents for this disease a high priority. One of the most promising such agents, aspirin, is the subject of a major report in The Lancet byjohn Burn and colleagues.2 In previous work, four placebo-controlled randomised trials showed that aspirin reduced risk of colorectal adenomas, precursor of almost all colorectal cancers, in patients with a history of adenoma or colorectal cancer.3 A randomised trial in familial adenomatous polyposis suggested that aspirin may protect against adenoma development. In a meta-analysis of long-term data from five randomised trials of cardiovascular prevention, aspirin reduced the 20-year risk of colorectal cancer by 24% and of associated mortality by 35%.