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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | Next >> The latter fact left cancer researchers pondering whether or not long-term use of Celebrex might cut risks for colon cancer.
These two latest trials try to answer that question. The biggest study, called the Adenoma Prevention with Celecoxib (APC) trial, was led by Dr. Monica Bertagnolli, of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. It tracked the incidence of polyps called adenomas in more than 2,000 patients with a prior history of these precancerous growths.
"Adenomas are a precursor of colon cancer -- you could consider them a proxy for colon cancer in the context of this trial," explained co-researcher Dr. John Saltzman, director of endoscopy at Brigham and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.
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Patients in the trial were divided into three groups: a third received a dummy placebo, a third got 200 milligrams of Celebrex twice daily, and the remaining third received 400 milligrams of the drug twice a day.
The team then had patients come in for regular colonoscopies over the next 3 years.
Celebrex did help bring down the rate of adenoma recurrence, the researchers reported.
While more than 60 percent of those on placebo developed these potentially malignant polyps, that number fell to about 43 percent for those on lower-dose (400 mg/day) Celebrex, and 37.5 percent for those taking the higher dose of Celebrex (800 mg/day).
There was a definite downside to the long-term use of Celebrex, however.
"Compared with placebo, celecoxib was associated with approximately a doubling of the cardiovascular event rates," Psaty noted. Specifically, patients taking lower-dose Celebrex for three years had 2.6 times the rate of serious cardiovascular events -- such as fatal or nonfatal heart attack and/or heart failure -- compared to those taking placebo. That risk more than tripled for those on the higher-dose regimen, the researchers added.
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