Long-term use of aspirin — a common painkiller that treats fever and inflammation — can cut the risk of bile duct cancer, a study reveals. “Regular, long-term use of aspirin is associated with a decreased risk of a number of different cancer types, particularly gastrointestinal cancers,” said one of the researchers, Lewis Roberts, gastroenterologist and hepatologist at Mayo Clinic in the US.

Bile duct cancer — also called cholangiocarcinoma — is an aggressive type of cancer that forms in the slender tubes (bile ducts) carrying digestive fluids through the liver.

The study reveals that individuals who took aspirin had a more than a two-and-half to three-and-half times lesser chance of developing bile duct cancer, when compared to individuals who did not take aspirin. Aspirin, with it’s anti-inflammatory properties, can decrease the risk of bile duct cancer by lessening the inflammation through slowing down an enzyme called cyclo-oxygenase (COX), which is known to promote inflammation.

“We know that continuous unremitting inflammation is one of the main factors promoting bile duct cancer,” Roberts said in the paper published in the journal Hepatology.

"The evidence has been accumulating that regular, long-term use of aspirin is associated with a decreased risk of a number of different cancer types, particularly gastrointestinal cancers," he said.

Bile duct cancer occurs mostly in the people aged over 50 and can cause symptoms, such as yellowing of the skin and eyes, intense itchiness of the skin, and white stools. It progresses quickly and is difficult to treat.

Aspirin is recommended and used for the treatment of inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, since it is an effective anti-inflammatory agent for both acute and long-term inflammation.

By Premji