Colorectal cancer involves cancerous developments in the colon, rectum and appendix. It is alleged that statins do not seem to shield patients against colorectal adenomas, claimed to be benign precursors of colorectal cancer. This is as per the outcomes of a secondary examination of the Adenoma Prevention with Celecoxib (APC) trial.
In a population at high-risk for contracting these lesions, outcomes of this study apparently proposed statin use may augment the danger of developing benign colorectal tumors. Statins are said to be usually used to avert cardiovascular disease by lowering cholesterol levels.
Preceding studies have supposedly signified that statins could also play a function in the prevention of colorectal cancer among patients who appear to be at high risk for this cancer. The objective of this study was to find out whether statin use appeared to be linked to the growth of recurrent colorectal adenomas after elimination by colonoscopy.
“In this analysis, statins did not prevent the development of non-malignant colorectal tumors or colorectal adenomas. Given our results, we do not think that it is reasonable to further study statins for chemoprevention of colorectal cancer, as the chance that they have this activity is very small,†commented, Lead study author Monica Bertagnolli, M.D., chief of the Division of Surgical Oncology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass.
“We were surprised by our findings; pre-clinical studies indicated that statins would be beneficial, but they were not. The observation that adenomas were more frequent in patients using statins needs to be confirmed and, because of this study design, should not raise concern. It would be highly detrimental if people at risk for cardiovascular disease were to stop taking statins based on these data,†Bertagnolli mentioned.
The by and large APC trial was said to be a randomized trial of roughly 2,035 adenoma patients. Out of which, around 679 were given placebo, 685 received 200 mg of celecoxib twice a day and about 671 obtained 400 mg of celecoxib twice a day. Celecoxib, promoted as Pfizer, is believed to be a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug that is thought to be usually used for patients with arthritis.
In the placebo group, patients who used statins at whatever time appeared to encompass no advantage in tumor development over five-year duration as opposed to those patients who never used statins. Statins were seemingly used by roughly 36 percent of the volunteers. Threat of developing recurring benign colorectal adenomas seemed to augment in due course in patients who were using statins.
As anticipated, based on their requirement for a statin, patients who were taking a statin apparently underwent more grave cardiovascular side effects like heart attack and stroke, as per the study authors.