Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents might prevent mouth cancer

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

A study shows that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents can help reduce mouth cancer risk among smokers, but at the risk of increased risk of heart disease.
Previous research has shown that aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents (NSAIDs) can reduce the risk of certain kinds of cancer. Now a team at the Norwegian Radium Hospital show that benefits may extend to mouth cancer.

Smoking is a major risk factor for mouth cancer. The scientists looked at heavy smokers, some of whom had mouth cancer, and found out about their NSAID use. They learned that taking NSAIDs long term reduced the risk of oral cancer by 53 per cent. But there was no overall survival benefit as those on NSAIDs also had an increased risk of dying from heart disease, compared with non-NSAID users. Clearly NSAIDs have potential for preventing mouth cancer, according to this study, but the risk-benefit equation must be carefully assessed for the individual patient.

Source
The Lancet online 7th October 2005