Cancer becomes much more dangerous when it spreads to other parts of the body. This process, called metastasis, is responsible for most cancer-related deaths—not the original tumor itself.
When cancer cells break away from the main tumor, they can travel through the blood or lymph system and start growing in new places. These tiny cancer clusters are often too small to detect or remove during surgery, which is why they’re so hard to treat.
To deal with this problem, many cancer patients receive chemotherapy after surgery. The goal is to kill any remaining cancer cells before they can grow again. But chemotherapy isn’t perfect.
It can cause inflammation in the body, and surprisingly, this inflammation can actually help cancer cells spread. That’s a major challenge in cancer treatment—trying to stop the disease from returning without causing side effects that might make it worse.
Researchers at Emory University may have found a simple and surprising solution: an old painkiller called ketorolac. This drug is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), similar to ibuprofen. It’s approved by the FDA and is often used for short-term pain relief, but it’s not commonly prescribed due to concerns about side effects when used long-term.
However, ketorolac may have a powerful new use in the fight against cancer. In a study led by Dr. Vikas P. Sukhatme, researchers gave ketorolac to mice before surgery. The results were striking.
The drug helped the immune system attack and destroy cancer cells that had started to spread. Mice that received ketorolac had fewer metastatic tumors and lived longer than mice that didn’t get the drug.
This discovery might also help explain earlier findings in human patients. In the past, doctors noticed that breast cancer patients who received ketorolac during surgery had a lower risk of cancer coming back or spreading. At the time, the reason wasn’t clear—but the new study may finally explain why.
The research team didn’t stop there. They tried combining ketorolac with low-dose aspirin and omega-3 fatty acids—nutrients found in fish oil that also help reduce inflammation. The combination worked even better. Mice treated with all three substances showed stronger immune responses, fewer metastases, and higher survival rates.
The idea of using everyday drugs to help stop cancer might sound unexpected, but it makes sense. Inflammation in the body creates a kind of “friendly environment” for cancer cells to grow. Drugs like ketorolac and aspirin fight this inflammation, making it harder for cancer to spread and easier for the immune system to respond.
The researchers believe that adding ketorolac to standard cancer care could eventually help real patients. It’s too early to change treatment plans now—more studies are needed to test how the drug works in different cancers, what the safest doses are, and how to avoid side effects. But the early results are promising.
If future research confirms what was seen in mice, ketorolac might become a valuable tool in stopping cancer before it spreads. This could not only save lives but also improve quality of life for people undergoing cancer treatment. It’s a simple, affordable idea: use an old painkiller in a new way.
The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, is a reminder that sometimes, big breakthroughs can come from familiar places. Ketorolac has been around for decades, but it might hold the key to solving one of the biggest challenges in cancer care—how to stop it from spreading.
Researchers are now working to turn these hopeful findings into real treatments. Their work shows that even something as ordinary as a painkiller could have extraordinary potential in the fight against cancer.
For more information about cancer, please see recent studies about the link between dairy food and certain cancers and this common food chemicals may cause cancer.
For more information about cancer, please see recent studies that plant-based diets may reduce risk of colorectal cancer in men, and Low-fat diet may help stop cancer growth.
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