Challenging the belief that aspirin may lead to lethal bleeding in cancer patients suffering from heart attacks, University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center researchers said that without aspirin the majority of such patients may die.

The study reported in the journal Cancer found that nine out of 10 cancer patients with thrombocytopenia, low platelet count who were experiencing a heart attack, and who did not receive aspirin died.

But only one patient died in a group of 17 similar cancer patients who received aspirin, the study revealed.

Dr. Jean-Bernard Durand, study author, noted: "The notion that heart attacks in patients with low platelets should be treated with clot-dissolving aspirin defies logic that is unless you suspect that the cancer is interfering with platelet function."