Efficacy and Safety of Medical Cannabis in Neuropathic Pain Patients

Introduction: Nowadays, cannabis plays a larger role in medical treatment. However, there is a lack of evidence on the treatment of neuropathic pain patients in Thailand. This research aims to study the clinical efficacy of medical cannabis for relieving neuropathic pain and effects of neuropathic pain on quality of life. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study in non-palliative care patients with neuropathic pain treated with medical cannabis at Lampang Hospital from August 28, 2019 to October 3, 2021. The data about baseline characteristics, pain scores, quality of life and side effects were collected from outpatient hospital information system and telephone interview. The efficacy before and after administration of medical cannabis was analyzed. Results: Among 64 neuropathic pain patients treated with medical cannabis (THC enriched 85.9%), 48.4% of patients had at least 30.0% reduction of pain score and 26.5% had at least 50% reduction in pain score. The patients had significant improvement in all aspects of quality of life, especially sleep. Another finding was that 46.9% of them had common side effects particularly dizziness and palpitation, and 9.4% could not tolerate the side effects and had to stop using the medical cannabis. Conclusion: A quarter of non-palliative patients with neuropathic pain had benefits from medical cannabis to achieve a clinically significant reduction in pain and improvement of quality of life, especially sleep. About half of them had common side effects.