A new study related to aspirin and its effects has unveiled that the drug is beneficial in the prevention and treatment of gastrointestinal cancer. Having a baby aspirin, 81 mg dosage, on daily basis can increase the survival rate in colorectal cancer patients by around two times.

Study's lead researcher Dr. Martine Frouws of Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands shared that he along with his team decided to carry out research to know aspirin effects in the survival of patients having tumors in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract like the rectum, colon and esophagus.

For the study, the researchers analyzed 13,715 patients who have received GI cancer diagnosis between 1998 and 2011. These patients were followed up for a median of 48.6 months. Out of the total, 42.8% were having colon cancer, 25.4% were having rectal cancer and 10.2% were having the cancer of the esophagus.

"In this study we analyzed each separate prescription per patient, and therefore we were able to achieve a more exact estimate of the effect of aspirin on cancer survival", said Dr. Frouws.

The researchers have also found out how aspirin use post GI cancer diagnosis has affected the survival of the patients. It was found that around 30.5% of patients have used aspirin before GI cancer diagnosis, 8.3% have used aspirin after the diagnosis and 61.5% did not take aspirin.

"Given that aspirin is a cheap, off-patent drug with relatively few side effects, this will have a great impact on health care systems as well as patients," says Dr. Frouws.