The past few decades have seen cannabis progress from an intensely policed drug with no perceived medical applications to a “miracle drug” with a plethora of health benefits. Anecdotal reports and preliminary studies have found it to be effective against, among other things, chronic pain, anxiety insomnia, nausea and vomiting, which are incidentally the symptoms often endured by individuals suffering from cancer who are undergoing chemotherapy. Thanks to restrictive cannabis policies, few researchers have been able to conclusively study how cannabis affects the quality of life of cancer patients.
However, a recent study published in “Frontiers in Oncology” sought to answer this question in the midst of loosening cannabis restrictions. Researchers conducted a randomized, phase 2 trial that compared the effect of two different ratios of oral medical cannabis oil in patients with inoperable or recurrent gliomas. They discovered that a nightly dose of medical marijuana led to improved symptoms that determine quality of life, such as sleep.
The study, which is one of the few of its kind, had 88 participating patients with the average age of 53.3 years. Most of the patients (95.2%) were white with approximately one- half of them (49.4%) being women. The patients randomly received medical cannabis with either 1:1 ratio of THC to CBD (4.6 mg/ml:4.8 mg/ml) or a 4:1 ratio of THC to CBD (15 mg/ml:3.8mg/ml).The researchers then used a paired t-test for the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Brain (FACT-Br) to study quality of life changes from week 1 to week 12.
Fifty-three patients also had MRIs at the start of the study and at week 12 to determine disease status. The researchers found that the daily dose of medical cannabis resulted in significant improvements in the physical and functional domains as well as sleep with the 1:1 medical cannabis being more effective that the 4:1 ratio. However, there was no significant difference between the two ratios in terms of disease status: 11% of the 53 patients experienced a reduction in disease status, 34% remained stable and 10% had progressive disease.
While there is usually a risk of adverse reactions with such studies, the researchers say the participants tolerated both medical cannabis ratios quite well. Still, they did experience the common side effects of cannabis consumption; drowsiness (7%), dizziness at night (10%), tiredness at night (11%) and dry mouth (13%). The researchers concluded that based on their data, cannabis, especially the 1:1 THC to CBD ratio, could help patients with high grade gliomas have a higher quality of life.
THC and CBD are the most abundant of the cannabinoids in marijuana, but the plant actually contains dozens more, and companies are focused on unlocking the therapeutic benefits of those lesser-known cannabinoids such as CBN, which have proved in preliminary research to possess greater potential as medicines when compared to CBD and THC.
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