Got your email and sent you one back.

Thanks for these links. Just thought I would chime in here and join you in your warning about treading carefully with Asprin and the risks or gastric ulcers and bleeding. I was on holiday last October in Blackpool. Started feeling queasy and funny on the Monday night, thought I was coming down with the cold or flu, it was October in the UK after all!

Anyway, woke up Tuesday morning felt awful. Dizzy, vomiting black fluids and stools black as well. Tried to have a shower, thought I was going to pass out in the shower and had to get out of it. More vomiting and black stuff all round so off to hospital, admitted for 3 days and got out the day before I was due to come home! Had a gastric ulcer and it was bleeding into my stomach hence the black stuff. Asprin and Ibuprofen I had taken for years for headaches, muscle problems, aches etc and that was what the Gastro doc in Blackpool told me  caused my ulcer.

So yes, asprin is not a harmless drug, even if taken sensibly, properly and for what it is supposed to be used for! Spent 3 days of my holiday getting 4 units of blood, fluids and other meds instead of riding the rollercoasters!!!!

Thanks Eli,

Gavin

I found studies on these cancers: extrahepatic CC, hepatocellular carcinoma, gastric, colorectal, bladder, pancreatic, renal, prostate, esophageal, cervical, ovarian, breast, lung.

In all cases, Glasgow Prognostic Score was correlated with survival. Low score, better survival. High score, worse survival.

Note that correlation does not mean causation.

These studies don't prove that inflammation causes poorer survival. It is possible that cancer progression causes inflammatory response in the body, not the other way around.

Anti-inflammatory Diet: Road to Good Health? Experts discuss the potential disease-fighting benefits of diets that try to reduce inflammation.

http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/featu … ood-health

Can a patient do anything to reduce the level of inflammation in the body?

I know of two potential options.

1. Anti-inflammatory diet.

Google search brings back TONS of resources:
https://www.google.com/search?q=anti-inflammatory+diet

2. Aspirin

Please please please tread very carefully!! Aspirin is not a harmless drug. It can cause serious gastric side effects such as ulcers and bleeding. Discuss it with your doctor. Our hospital specifically warned us not to take Aspirin during chemo.

My wife started taking low-dose Aspirin after she finished chemo. She has been taking it since May. So far so good - knock on wood! All of our doctors - surgeon, medical oncologist, radiation oncologist - gave us the blessing to take it. My wife combines Aspirin with Pantoprazole (Protonix) which she has to take anyway as a Whipple patient. Pantoprazole reduces the risk of GI side effects from Aspirin.

Again, please be VERY careful about Aspirin.

Inflammation-based prognostic score is a useful predictor of postoperative outcome in patients with extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23138964

The study mentions Glasgow Prognostic Score (GPS). My understanding is, it's a measure of systemic inflammation in the body. I found a few more studies about GPS:

Significance of the Inflammation-Based Glasgow Prognostic Score for Short- and Long-Term Outcomes After Curative Resection of Gastric Cancer.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23007284

The systemic inflammation-based Glasgow Prognostic Score: A decade of experience in patients with cancer.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22995477

In short:
Low inflammation score ==> better survival
High inflammation score ==> worse survival