BOSTON, Aug. 30, 2006 -- Celebrex (celecoxib) can prevent sporadic colorectal adenomas, as well as reduce post-polypectomy recurrences, but these pluses may by outweighed by cardiovascular minuses. three years of treatment with 200 mg of Celebrex twice daily reduced the rate of detectable polyps by 33% and 400 mg twice daily reduced rate by 45%, compared with placebo (P<0.001 for both).

Drs. Psaty and Potter said that because [Celebrex] increases the risk of coronary disease (12.7 extra events), it is now "reasonable to conclude that [Celebrex] has no role as a chemopreventive agent either in patients with nonfamilial colonic adenomas or in the general population."

Francesco Grasso, M.D.