The use of medical Marijuana in symptom management for cancer and other chronic patients
Date Issued
April 2020
Author(s)
Advisor
Abstract
Introduction: Medical cannabis or Medical marijuana has been used for a number of years as
a complementary treatment to alleviate symptoms caused by cancer and other chronic
diseases. Although this is one of the most controversial topics in medicine, in recent years it
has caught the attraction of researchers to verify its safe administration.
Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the use of cannabis in the management of
symptoms in people with cancer and other chronic diseases.
Material and method: A review of literature has been conducted in most recent published
articles from the past 3 years (2017-2020). The research was performed in the following
databases: PubMed, Cinahl, Scopus and Google Scholar and the keywords used to filter the
results were as follows: Medical Marijuana, symptoms management, Pain management,
oncology patients or cancer patients, inflammatory bowel diseases and multiple sclerosis.
Results: In this study, 8 articles were included which met the predefined criteria. The majority
of these articles found that medical marijuana had positive effects in symptom management
especially in pain management, wellbeing as well as in spasticity, bleeding and diarrhea, in in
patients with cancer and other chronic diseases. Despite this, the rates were not statistically
significant; as a result, the beneficial properties of the use of medical marijuana have not been
scientifically proved yet.
Conclusions: The results of several studies have found that positive effects can be caused by
using cannabis; however, it has not been accepted by the scientific community. That may have
been attributed to the lack of clinical trials due to its legal status. Therefore, more research is
needed to ascertain the use of cannabis in oncology and chronic patients.
a complementary treatment to alleviate symptoms caused by cancer and other chronic
diseases. Although this is one of the most controversial topics in medicine, in recent years it
has caught the attraction of researchers to verify its safe administration.
Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the use of cannabis in the management of
symptoms in people with cancer and other chronic diseases.
Material and method: A review of literature has been conducted in most recent published
articles from the past 3 years (2017-2020). The research was performed in the following
databases: PubMed, Cinahl, Scopus and Google Scholar and the keywords used to filter the
results were as follows: Medical Marijuana, symptoms management, Pain management,
oncology patients or cancer patients, inflammatory bowel diseases and multiple sclerosis.
Results: In this study, 8 articles were included which met the predefined criteria. The majority
of these articles found that medical marijuana had positive effects in symptom management
especially in pain management, wellbeing as well as in spasticity, bleeding and diarrhea, in in
patients with cancer and other chronic diseases. Despite this, the rates were not statistically
significant; as a result, the beneficial properties of the use of medical marijuana have not been
scientifically proved yet.
Conclusions: The results of several studies have found that positive effects can be caused by
using cannabis; however, it has not been accepted by the scientific community. That may have
been attributed to the lack of clinical trials due to its legal status. Therefore, more research is
needed to ascertain the use of cannabis in oncology and chronic patients.
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