In Study, Aspirin Reduces Deaths From Some Cancers

Aspirin lessens pain and lowers high body temperature. People know this information. But that isn't all the drug can do. Some researchers say aspirin may help patients with colon cancer. In 1982, a British scientist shared the Nobel Prize in medicine about how aspirin works.Sir John Vane found that aspirin blocks the body from making natural substances called prostaglandins. Scientists have learned how aspirin interferes with an enzyme. One form of this enzyme makes the prostaglandin that causes pain and swelling. So aspirin can reduce pain and swelling in damaged tissues.But it can also harm the inside of the stomach and small intestine.And sometimes it can cause bleeding.