Evaluation of medical cannabis used for patients with tumorous and neurological deseases

Postgraduate Thesis uoadl:2837880 342 Read counter

Unit:
Κατεύθυνση Κλινική Νοσηλευτική: Χειρουργική Νοσηλευτική
Library of the School of Health Sciences
Deposit date:
2018-12-17
Year:
2018
Author:
Griva Christina-Theodora
Supervisors info:
Ελένη Θεοδοσοπούλου, Καθηγήτρια, Νοσηλευτική, ΕΚΠΑ
Ιωάννης Κακλαμάνος, Καθηγητής, Νοσηλευτική, ΕΚΠΑ
Κωνσταντίνος Μπίρμπας, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής, Νοσηλευτική, ΕΚΠΑ
Original Title:
Αξιολόγηση της χρήσης φαρμακευτικής κάνναβης στα πλαίσια ανακουφιστικής θεραπείας ασθενών με ογκολογικά και νευρολογικά νοσήματα
Languages:
Greek
Translated title:
Evaluation of medical cannabis used for patients with tumorous and neurological deseases
Summary:
Introduction: The last decades, more and more scientific research is directed to a type of complementary – to conventional medication- treatment to several diseases based on the cannabis plant. The medicinal properties of cannabis are not completely explored, partially because cannabis is not legal in many countries.

Research aim: The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the current literature on the medical use of cannabis in the palliative treatment of patients suffering from various oncological and neurological diseases, who are often resistant to conventional therapies.
Material and methods: An online search was conducted in the PubMed, Science Direct, Medline, Scopus, Google Scholar databases and the key words used are: cannabis, medical marijuana, cancer patients, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, Parkinson, TCH, CBD, risk factors. At total, 25 research were used (randomized, double-blind, systematic review) which concerned cancer, epileptic Parkinson and Multiple Sclerosis patients.
Results: This systematic review’s results divided in categories based on patients’ type. Moreover, only 4 out of 25 of these studies showed no noticeable improvement to symptoms after cannabis use. Positive results derived from 21 studies researching the impact of medical cannabis on the alleviation of symptoms such as pain, loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting in patients with cancer, epileptic seizures, psychosis, tremor and dyskinesia in Parkinson’s patients, spasticity and pain in Multiple Sclerosis patients. None of the studies showed worsening of patients’ symptoms. However, the majority of these studies reported side effects such as dizziness, drowsiness, confusion etc.
Conclusions: In this systematic review, we conclude that cannabis treatment can work as an effective complementary therapy for symptoms in patients suffering from neurological and oncological diseases. However, future research is vital to investigate side-effects which are reported in many precedent studies and to define safety factors in its administration in order to help health professionals.
Main subject category:
Health Sciences
Keywords:
Medical cannabis, Symptom relief, Cancer, Epilepsy, Parkinson’s, Multiple sclerosis
Index:
No
Number of index pages:
0
Contains images:
Yes
Number of references:
72
Number of pages:
79
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