Aspirin for Schwannomas?

Otology & Neurotology:
doi: 10.1097/MAO.0000000000000189

Aspirin Intake Correlates With Halted Growth of Sporadic Vestibular Schwannoma In Vivo
Kandathil, Cherian K.*†; Dilwali, Sonam*‡; Wu, Chen-Chi*†; Ibrahimov, Metin*†; McKenna, Michael J.*†; Lee, Hang§; Stankovic, Konstantina M.*†‡

Study Design:  Retrospective case review.

Setting: Tertiary care hospital.

Patients: People diagnosed with sVS and followed at a tertiary referral center by serial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for at least 4 months within the period of January 1980 through April 2012.

Main Outcome Measures: Patient use of aspirin and sVS growth rate measured by changes in the largest tumor dimension as noted on serial MRIs

Results: Within a set of 689 cases, 347 were followed by serial MRI scans (50.3%); of the latter, 81 took aspirin, of which, 33 demonstrated sVS growth, and 48 did not. Of the 266 nonaspirin users, 154 demonstrated sVS growth, and 112 did not. A significant inverse association was found among aspirin users and sVS growth (odds ratio [OR]: 0.50, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.29–0.85), which was not confounded by age or sex.

Conclusion:
Our results suggest a potential therapeutic role of aspirin in inhibiting sVS growth.

(Note:  sVS in the above abstract = sporadic, ie non-neurofibomatosis related, vestibular schwannoma, which is a a benign tumor of the brain stem region near the inner ear.)

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