Aspirin for the Primary Prophylaxis of Colorectal Cancer

Increasing epidemic of colorectal cancer worldwide and the expenses of the current screening and treatment of this potentially fatal condition have raised the interest of in finding a primary prophylactic measure. Aspirin has been administrated for more than 40 years to achieve this. In this manuscript, we reviewed the best available evidence on the prophylatic use of aspirin for colorectal cancer prevention. The analysis and large cohort studies revealed that although using ASA would probably decrease the risk of colon cancer, this would not occur before 5-8 years after treatment. ASA usage would increase the risk of major gastrointestinal bleeding. Aspirin has been proposed as a chemopreventive agent in colorectal cancer (CRC) for many years, but there are still debates on the proper candidates, treatment time and cost benefit analysis of this potentially harmful drug. This brief review would try to answer these questions using the currently available evidence.