Background: Experimental, and more recently, clinical data have suggested the influence of hemostasis in the spread of malignant disease.
Methods: To complete research in this type of coagulation and cancer, a multicentric randomized clinical trial was performed, including 303 patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC), treated by the addition of aspirin at 1 g/day (a dosage at which aspirin is considered to be a platelet aggregation inhibitor) to combined chemotherapy.
Results: Survival was not increased in the aspirin-treated group (P = 0.90). The analysis according to the extent of disease (limited or extensive disease) did not modify that conclusion.
Conclusions: This result does not confirm the hypothesis that, in SCLC, aspirin (a platelet aggregation inhibitor) reduces metastasis formation and local tumor thrombogenesis.