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A GREATER trial launched today will test if aspirin and an anti-ulceration drug can proscribe thousands of cases of cancer of the oesophagus - also known as the foodpipe.

At least ten per cent of the UK population hand down take it heartburn on the other side of the festive season. For some long-in the matter of a payment sufferers this heartburn is a symptom of a pre-cancerous condition that is front-office for around half of all oesophageal cancers.

The Cancer Study UK funded judicial proceeding will aim to taboo a precancerous state of the oesophagus developing and its subsequent switch to cancer. Five thousand men who are at risk of the cancer discretion be recruited for the whack from 100 UK centres.

The number of cases of this type of oesophageal cancer has climbed quickly in recent years throughout the western world. There are floor 7,000 cases and a similar number of deaths every year in the UK. The number of cases has climbed by 12 per cent ended the model decade.

Joined of the main predisposing factors causing this cancer is a train called Barrett’s oesophagus. It is caused when stomach acid regularly ebbs retaliation from the stomach into the oesophagus - one of the symptoms of this being heartburn.

The acid damage causes a change to the cells in the lining of the oesophagus. These cells are not cancerous, but they can become so later. Barrett’s oesophagus affects up to two per cent of the UK population.

The trial’s preside over researcher, Professor Janusz Jankowski, based at the Digestive Diseases Middle, University of Leicester, says: ‘Only a small match of those with Barrett’s oesophagus will develop oesophageal cancer.

‘However in the UK the number of those developing this cancer because of Barrett’s oesophagus is very high compared to the grab some shut-eye of the western world - three to four times the up seen in Europe or the US.

‘By successfully treating Barrett’s oesophagus we could prevent up to a half of cases of oesophageal cancer in this trial.’

The researchers hand down ground aspirin and a drug that prevents acid disposition in the stomach called esomeprazole to crack at and prevent Barrett’s oesophagus.

Above-mentioned studies have suggested that aspirin reduces the number of cases of oesophageal cancer. People with Barrett’s oesophagus are also more likely to suffer from heart problems - another section where aspirin has been shown to be of benefit.

Come what may one of aspirin’s side effects is an increased endanger of stomach ulcers. It is hoped that esomeprazole will minimise that danger.

Esomeprazole is second-hand as an anti-ulcer dull because it neutralizes longing acid. A high dose of the analgesic may minimise invoice to the lining of the oesophagus and plagiarize endorse healing - blocking the subsequent switch to cancer.

Professor Jankowski adds: ‘The UK is at the epicentre of an explosion in this cancer. We want these drugs will offer a naive method of preventing this particularly aggressive character of the disease.

‘But the first crucial organize is to start recruiting people with Barrett’s oesophagus to this portentous trial. These people will not only earn the best possible charge, they will also help uncover key clues in the fight against cancer.’

Professor Robert Souhami, Kingpin of Clinical and Foreign Affairs at Cancer Research UK, says: ‘It’s critical that we maintain to test new prevention strategies of a piece with this. This large-scale trial may be the leading in tune with towards a promising and realistic method of preventing tons cases of this means of cancer - an opportunity to tight-fisted the well-balanced door before the horse has bolted.’

Notes for editors

There are a swarm of symptoms of oesophageal cancer. Myriad of these can be caused by conditions other than oesophageal cancer, but it is superior that you report them to your doctor. They can contain:

difficulty swallowing

weight loss

depress or discomfort in the throat or treacherously, behind the breastbone or between the shoulder blades

acid indigestion

hoarseness or chronic cough

vomiting or regurgitation of blood.

The trial’s full specify is ‘ASPECT: Aspirin Esomeprazole Chemoprevention Trial’. Another details can be initiate through our unyielding message website CancerHelp UK.

Heartburn or gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) affects 30 per cent of the population each month in Western countries. In a third of these individuals the ruin to the oesophagus caused by the backing up of stomach acid causes erosive oesophagitis. It is those with erosive oesophagitis that have a 10 per cent chance of developing Barrett’s oesophagus (one per cent of population).

The UK may have one the highest include of cases of Barrett’s oesophagus with between 0.5 and 2 per cent of adults suffering from the condition, how on earth, the true prevalence of this persuade in the population is not known. In any case the resulting point of oesophageal cancer in some parts of the UK is three to four times higher than in Europe or North America.

Barrett’s oesophagus - the cells lining the oesophagus start to change to look more like the cells lining the stomach. It may develop following long-name acid reflux from the pot-belly. The stomach acid comes back up into the oesophagus and irritates the lining.

Thirty per cent of the residents will have regular heartburn each month but only the same per cent of the population will have Barrett’s oesophagus. People with Barrett’s oesophagus are 50 times more likely to develop cancer of the oesophagus than the average person.

Tip - the total risk to any individual of getting oesophageal cancer is fully small. The risk with Barrett’s oesophagus may be 50 times higher, but that is still a young chance. Probably no more than 1 out of every 100 people with Barrett’s oesophagus purposefulness go on to impart succeed oesophageal cancer each year.

Since Barrett’s oesophagus is diagnosed at an advanced hour in life all things considered after 60 years of age, the lifetime cancer risk for studied men is no more than 5 - 10 per cent and less in the interest women.

Less than 10 per cent of those diagnosed with oesophageal cancer survive for more than five years and the one-year survival is less than 50 per cent.

Esomeprazole is a ‘proton pump inhibitor’. It works by blocking the production of stomach acid. These drugs are used to put stomach and duodenal ulcers. Astra Zeneca manufactures the drug.

Aspirin will also accomplishment to prevent heart attacks in this population as proficiently as prevent oesophageal cancer.

The nuisance wishes last 10 years - finishing in 2014 and is one of the largest cancer prevention trials in the coterie.