An old painkiller, given before surgery, may help the body mop up cancer cells that escape

When surgeons remove a tumour, a few cancer cells can already have slipped away — too tiny to see, but able to seed new tumours later. Researchers at Emory University and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center asked whether a familiar painkiller could help the immune system catch those escapees. In mouse experiments published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, giving ketorolac — a common anti-inflammatory painkiller in the same family as ibuprofen — before surgery helped the animals' immune cells control scattered cancer deposits and improved long-term survival. Timing was everything: given after the operation, it did not help. Adding low-dose aspirin and omega-3 compounds strengthened the effect further. This is animal research, not a treatment for people — ketorolac has real side effects, and human trials must come first — but it points to a promising idea: the hours around surgery may be a window when the body's defences can be helped to finish the job.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: tech innovation