Patients Are Reminded of a Wonder Drug’s Risks
By RONI CARYN RABIN
NYT
Cheap, ubiquitous aspirin has long been known for health benefits from basic pain relief to heart attack prevention. But after a new study this week provided tantalizing evidence suggesting that aspirin might increase survival chances for colorectal cancer patients, experts were quick to warn that the drug, a medicine cabinet staple, also had its risks.
“If I were on a desert island, one of the drugs I would choose to have with me, hands down, maybe No. 1, is aspirin,” said Dr. John A. Baron, a professor of medicine at Dartmouth Medical School. “It’s a fascinating, wonderful drug, a great drug. But it is a real drug, and it has side effects.”
Both Dr. Baron and other medical experts cautioned against starting a daily regimen of aspirin without consulting a physician, because of the risks of gastrointestinal bleeding, and the potential risk for hemorrhagic strokes, or bleeding in the brain.
“Aspirin is a drug that been with us a little over 100 years, and we continue to learn impressive and important things about its potential benefits,” said Dr. Otis Brawley, medical director of the American Cancer Society. “But it is a double-edged sword.”
(More here.)
NYT
Cheap, ubiquitous aspirin has long been known for health benefits from basic pain relief to heart attack prevention. But after a new study this week provided tantalizing evidence suggesting that aspirin might increase survival chances for colorectal cancer patients, experts were quick to warn that the drug, a medicine cabinet staple, also had its risks.
“If I were on a desert island, one of the drugs I would choose to have with me, hands down, maybe No. 1, is aspirin,” said Dr. John A. Baron, a professor of medicine at Dartmouth Medical School. “It’s a fascinating, wonderful drug, a great drug. But it is a real drug, and it has side effects.”
Both Dr. Baron and other medical experts cautioned against starting a daily regimen of aspirin without consulting a physician, because of the risks of gastrointestinal bleeding, and the potential risk for hemorrhagic strokes, or bleeding in the brain.
“Aspirin is a drug that been with us a little over 100 years, and we continue to learn impressive and important things about its potential benefits,” said Dr. Otis Brawley, medical director of the American Cancer Society. “But it is a double-edged sword.”
(More here.)
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