Aspirin continues to amaze doctors, patients
Sunday, January 30, 2011 02:57 AM THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
This tiny pill wears many hats.
Pain reliever. Heart attack and stroke preventer. Arthritis manager. Cancer fighter.
Aspirin continues to amaze doctors and researchers more than 100 years after it was marketed byBayer.
“There are few drugs where absolutely you have to use this, and this is one of them,” said Dr.David Sabgir, a Mount Carmel St. Ann’s cardiologist. “Definitely a miracle drug.”
Aspirin, which was first sold as a pain reliever, is derived from the bark and leaves of willowtrees. (Hippocrates first described its benefits in 400 B.C.)
It has appeared in more than 10,000 medical studies since 1966, according to MedlinePlus, amedical database compiled by the National Library of Medicine. In the past three years, it has beenmentioned in more than 4,200 medical paper titles.
Since the 1970s, aspirin also has been prescribed to prevent and manage heart disease. Mostrecently, the wonder drug has been linked to preventing cancer in the colon, lungs, prostate andesophagus.
So what’s the secret to its success?
Aspirin helps keep blood from clotting, Sabgir said, which is crucial for patients who have ahigher risk of heart attack or stroke because of family history or past occurrences.
Doctors recommend that women 55 to 79 years old who have never had a heart attack or stroke takeone low-dose aspirin a day if the risk of stroke is greater than the risk of gastrointestinalbleeding, Sabgir said. Men 45 to 79 who have never had a heart attack should take aspirin if therisk of an attack outweighs the risk of bleeding, he said.
Recommended dosage is 75 to 150 milligrams, but Sabgir said most doctors recommend doses closerto 75 milligrams, the equivalent of one baby aspirin a day. He said taking a regular dose ofaspirin instead of a baby dose can have long-term effects on the stomach’s gastric lining.
Dr. William Abraham, director of Ohio State’s cardiovascular-medicine program, said takingaspirin also can reduce the risk of having another heart attack or stroke by 25 to 30 percent.
“It actually really is what it’s cracked up to be,” Abraham said.
The benefits are so convincing that doctors say some people are popping a pill a day when theyshouldn’t.
“A lot of people look at it as a vitamin when it’s a medication,” said Dr. Teresa Caulin-Glaser,executive director of the McConnell Heart Health Center. “It needs to be treated with that samerespect. Aspirin is a powerful medication.”
Even the miracle drug isn’t risk-free, Caulin-Glaser said.
Patients should ask their doctors before starting an aspirin regimen to discuss side effects,which include bleeding, breathing problems and rashes.
“I think they take it and think they’ll never have a heart attack, but that’s not the case,”Caulin-Glaser said.
“Aspirin is just one tool. It doesn’t eliminate the risk.”
Will researchers discover other uses for aspirin?
Sabgir said he would bet money on it.
“Certain drugs continue to be good for things,” he said.
gpotthoff@dispatch.com
Story of a wonder drug
Greek physician Hippocrates prescribes willow-tree bark and leaves, which are rich with a substance called salicin, to relieve pain and fever.
A German chemist experiments with salicin and creates salicylic acid.
Bayer chemist Felix Hoffmann chemically synthesizes a stable powder form that relieves his father’s rheumatism. The compound later becomes the active ingredient in aspirin.
Bayer distributes aspirin powder to physicians to give to their patients. Aspirin is soon the No.1 drug worldwide.
Aspirin becomes available without a prescription and is manufactured in tablet form.
Aspirin is used to treat symptoms of pain related to rheumatism, lumbago and neuralgia.
Dr. Lawrence Craven in California notices that the 400 men for whom he’d prescribed aspirin hadn’t suffered heart attacks. He regularly recommends to all patients and colleagues that “an aspirin a day” could slash the risk of heart attack.
Children’s chewable aspirin is introduced.
Scientists discover that aspirin inhibits the production of chemicals, called prostaglandins, that are involved in inflammation.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposes aspirin to reduce the risk of a recurrent heart attack and prevent a first heart attack in patients with unstable angina.
The FDA also approves aspirin for the prevention of recurrent transient-ischemic attacks, or “mini-strokes,” in men, and it makes aspirin standard therapy for men who have had strokes.
The Hypertension Optimal Treatment study is the first to demonstrate a beneficial effect of low-dose aspirin in addition to anti-hypertensive therapy in preventing heart attacks in patients with high blood pressure.
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Aspirin continues to amaze doctors, patients
Tags: national library of medicine, risk of heart attack, miracle drug, hippocrates, carmel st
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