Aspirin and brain tumours

Can you take aspirin if you have a brain tumour? It’s not a recommended form of treatment, but might have potential for treatments in the future. But, further research is needed.

On this page:

• What is aspirin?
• If you have a brain tumour should you take aspirin?
• Aspirin and brain tumours
• Aspirin and cancer

What is aspirin?

Aspirin is a drug that’s used for pain relief. Doctors might also prescribe a regular low dose of aspirin to help prevent heart attacks or strokes as it can help stop blood clots forming.

If you have a brain tumour should you take aspirin?

NICE do not recommend aspirin as a brain tumour treatment.

You should tell your healthcare team if you decide to take aspirin as it has a blood thinning effect which makes bleeding more likely and is a risk pre and post surgery.

Aspirin and brain tumours

The research below relates to liquid aspirin. This is different from soluble aspirin that you can buy over the counter.

In early lab tests on cancer cells from brain tumours from adults and children, results show liquid aspirin combined with other ingredients to be up to 10 times more effective than chemotherapy at killing brain tumour cells.

In its liquid form, aspirin can cross the blood brain barrier. This makes scientists believe that it could have potential when combined with other drugs to form treatment for brain tumours.

However, it is difficult to produce a completely liquid aspirin. Aspirin referred to as ‘soluble’ actually still contains tiny particles of the drug.

Although early results seemed promising, further research is necessary before considering a clinical trial.

Aspirin and cancer

Cancer Research UK are currently funding a trial to see if a low daily dose of aspirin could help to prevent some types of cancer returning.

There are some risks in taking aspirin regularly, including strokes, bleeding and stomach ulcers, and researchers need to know if the benefits of taking the drug regularly outweigh the risk of taking it.

The trial is for people who have had breast, bowel, stomach, prostate or oesophagus cancer. You can read more about the trial here.

Until the results of the trial are available, health professionals advise that patients do not start taking over the counter aspirin medications without consulting their oncologist.

Make the right choices for you

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