Celebrex May Prevent Colon Cancer; But Heart?
Two recent studies says that the popular arthritis drug Celebrex that cut the chances of developing precancerous growths called polyps by 33 percent to 45 percent in people can increase heart risk.
Dr. Nadir Arber of Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center in Israel, who led one of the studies, said that they are concerned about cardiovascular events. Still, experts were excited by how much potential the drug showed for cancer prevention.
It’s an important issue: More than 145,000 new cases of colorectal cancer and about 55,000 deaths from it are expected to occur this year in the United States.
The studies were presented Monday at a conference of the American Association for Cancer Research. They are the latest chapter in the saga of cox-2 inhibitors, painkillers that block a substance that causes inflammation and also is found in many tumors. Aspirin also blocks this substance, and studies suggest that it, too, cuts the risk of colon cancer, but it is tough on the stomach and can cause bleeding problems.
Doctors hoped that cox-2 inhibitors would be better, but Celebrex is the only one still on the market; Vioxx and Bextra were withdrawn over safety concerns.
Filed under Cancer, Health, Heart
