Older people who take daily low-dose aspirin have at 20% higher risk of developing anemia even without having already had a major bleeding event, according to results from a new randomized controlled trial.
Comment: “it is important to put the warnings coming out of the ASPREE trial in context for those with Lynch. The use of prophylactic aspirin is safe in those under 70yrs and leads to a significant reduction in cancer risk. If you’re worried talk to the Dr who prescribed your aspirin.” (Neil Ryan)
Cancer cells break the rules of normal cells. They divide when they should not, do not die when they should, rob other cells of essential supplies, shirk their cellular jobs and pollute the extracellular space. While cooperating cells curb excess growth and proliferation, cancer cells often evade growth-suppressing signals. Cooperating cells have limited lives, but cancer cells resist cell death and hide from an immune system that would typically destroy them. Normal cells distribute nutrients and chemical signals essential to survival, but cancer cells grow extra blood vessels to grab more resources for themselves. These contrasts show us that cheating is not merely a metaphor for cancer. It is a description of cancer’s cellular reality.
The Lynch syndrome registry records and analyses important information about people with Lynch syndrome.
This helps to understand how people with Lynch syndrome are looked after and cared for across England. All information is held on a secure and confidential computer database.
Why have a Lynch syndrome registry?
The registry will collect information from people with Lynch syndrome and help to better understand how these people are currently being monitored and managed.
The registry will ultimately be an efficient system that with the help of the bowel cancer screening programme will allow nationally coordinated care for you and others with Lynch syndrome.
It will also become a valuable central research resource that could be used to support other studies.
“There are two things I want people to know.Firstly, the understanding about LS at all the different touch points in the NHS is amazing. Secondly, having LS isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I have the MSH2 variant. It’s not great to know all the associated risks, but it gives me the opportunity to better both my and my family’s future chances. It’s a blessing in disguise to discover this.”
“When we found out, we spoke with other family members as I felt that I needed to let them know. Some of my relatives came forward and got themselves tested to see if they could make the same informed decisions; others didn’t.”
Having this knowledge has enabled me to make decisions about my life.
A person’s risk of developing colorectal cancer isinfluenced by lifestyle factors, such as a low-fibre diet and lack of regular physical activity; however, as is the case with breast cancer, some inherited geneticvariants increase the likelihood of a person developing colorectal cancer.
Lynch syndrome
A person who inherits Lynch syndrome will have a high lifetime risk of colorectal cancer, as well as increased risk of some other types of cancer. It can be caused by variants in one of four different genes (MLH1, MSH2, MSH6and PMS2) that code for essential DNA repair proteins.
In all four genes, only one affected copy is needed to cause the increased cancer risk. This means that Lynch syndrome is inherited in a dominant pattern in families.
People who have Lynch syndrome are generally advised to have a colonoscopy every two years so that cancers can be identified and removed at an early stage. For affected women, a hysterectomy and removal of the ovaried and fallopian tubes are often considered too, because there is a significant risk of endometrial and ovarian cancer.
Lynch Syndrome Ireland 