Study: NSAID may reduce skin cancer

NEW YORK A new study found that a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug may reduce a patient's risk of developing basal cell carcinoma, a form of skin cancer.

Sixty patients with basal cell carcinoma were randomly assigned either 200-mg of oral celecoxib, known as a COX-2 inhibitor, two times a day or placebo.

BCC tumors decreased over a three-year study after patients were administered oral celecoxib, which reduced BCC burden in all subjects, researchers wrote in the January issue of Cancer Prevention Research. Researchers did note, however, the therapy appeared significantly effective only in patients with less severe disease.