Characteristics of Colon Cancer Diagnosed in Patients Taking Aspirin or Warfarin.
- Author:
Sung Jae SHIN
1
;
Byung Chang KIM
;
Sooyoung PARK
;
Sungai KIM
;
Tae Il KIM
;
Won Ho KIM
Author Information
1. Department of Internal Medicine and Institute of Gastroenterology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea . kimwonho@yumc.yonsei.ac.kr
- Publication Type:Original Article ; English Abstract
- Keywords:
Colon cancer;
Synchronous polyp;
Aspirin;
Warfarin;
Early diagnosis
- MeSH:
Aged;
Anticoagulants/adverse effects/therapeutic use;
Aspirin/adverse effects/*therapeutic use;
Cardiovascular Diseases/prevention & control;
Colonic Neoplasms/*diagnosis/pathology;
English Abstract;
Female;
Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage/chemically induced;
Humans;
Male;
Middle Aged;
Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors/adverse effects/*therapeutic use;
Warfarin/adverse effects/*therapeutic use
- From:The Korean Journal of Gastroenterology
2005;46(6):455-462
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
BACKGROUND/AIMS: Warfarin and aspirin are commonly used to prevent cardiovascular diseases. Aspirin was recently found to have chemopreventive effects on colon cancer and polyps by inhibiting cyclooxygenase-2. Therefore, we evaluated whether the symptoms of bleeding related with aspirin or warfarin could be a clue in early detection of colon cancer. We also assessed the effect of aspirin on the development of synchronous polyps. METHODS: A total of forty-one and 16 patients diagnosed as colon cancer, taking aspirin or warfarin respectively were enrolled. In addition, 171 patients with colon cancers were age and gender matched as a control group. We investigated the difference of clinical features and laboratory findings among three groups. RESULTS: The incidence of bleeding was 81.3% (warfarin), 53.7% (aspirin), 40.4% (control). Among three groups, location and size of cancer, number of lymph nodes involvement and stages were not different, but the number of patients in Duke stage D in warfarin group (n=1, 6.3%) were less than that of the control (n=44, 25.7%) (p=0.049). The extent of circumferencial involvement by cancer was lower in aspirin group (67%) than in the control group (80%) (p=0.035). The percentage of patients with synchronous polyps and mean number of synchronous polyps in aspirin group (34.1%, 0.68, respectively) was lower than that of control group (53.6%, 1.69, respectively) (p=0.029, 0.008, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Bleeding related with aspirin or warfarin usage had no effect on the early diagnosis of colon cancer. However, lower incidence of Duke stage D in warfarin group might be related to anti-metastatic effect of warfarin. In addition, aspirin may have a role in suppressing the development of synchronous polyps.
