Whole plant cannabis extract reduces epileptic seizures by 86% in small study

A small study of children with treatment-resistant epilepsy found that whole plant cannabis therapies reduced seizures by 86 percent, according to a study recently published by the journal BMJ Pediatrics Open.

To conduct the study, researchers collected retrospective clinical data from caregivers and clinicians on 10 children with persistent or drug-resistant epilepsy. All 10 patients enrolled in the study had not responded to CBD products.

When patients were given a whole-plant cannabis oil containing THC, CBD, and other cannabinoids, as well as compounds such as terpenes and flavonoids, the frequency of their seizures decreased by almost 90 percent.

“The frequency of seizures in all 10 participants decreased by 86 percent with no significant side effects,” write the authors of the study.

The dosage of cannabis oil was determined by each patient’s doctor. On average, the children in the study received around 5 mg of THC per day even though they did not get high from the medication. The parents reported the results to the researchers by phone or video conference. Few side effects were reported to researchers, including excessive fatigue, before the exact dosage was established.

“All parents reported that the whole plant products were well tolerated and that the children showed an improvement in their mood, behavior, diet and eating habits, as well as a significant improvement in their cognitive abilities [mental] Skills, ”said study author Rayyan Zafar, Fellow at the Center for Psychedelic Research and Neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London.

The research also found that the use of the cannabis oil resulted in a dramatic reduction in the number of other drugs taken by the patients in the study. At the start of the study, patients took several medications each day, a number that decreased significantly after starting treatment with cannabis oil.

“Participants reduced their use of anti-epileptic drugs after treatment with medical cannabis from an average of seven to one,” the researchers write.

Researchers support improved access to cannabis therapies

Although UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid (now Secretary of State for Health and Welfare) announced in 2018 that cannabis drugs would be made available to patients “with exceptional clinical needs,” few patients have received a prescription from the National Health Service. The study’s authors found “a substantial financial cost of £ 874 per month to obtain these drugs through private prescriptions” and believe that the data collected on whole-plant cannabis therapies provide evidence that such drugs are in compliance with current prescribing guidelines to be introduced to the NHS.

“Such a move would benefit the families enormously, who, in addition to the psychological burden of caring for their chronically ill children, also have to bear the crippling financial burden of their medication,” the authors conclude.

Parents warn against unsupervised cannabis treatment during seizures

Dr. Kevin Chapman, a neurologist at Phoenix Children’s Hospital and spokesman for the American Epilepsy Society, said more research was needed and cautioned parents not to try treating their children with cannabis from a pharmacy.

“There is currently insufficient evidence to support the use of these products, especially in place of prescribed epilepsy treatments,” Chapman said.

The study’s authors acknowledged that treating young people with psychoactive compounds was risky, but noted that drugs commonly used for epilepsy also have serious side effects. Dr. Peter Grinspoon, a family doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and a board member of the Doctors for Cannabis Regulation advocacy group who was not involved in the study, noted that concerns about the effects of cannabis therapies on children should be addressed in the study related to the risks, associated with other commonly used drugs.

“I imagine that any concerns about THC use in children would be at least partially mitigated by the decline in anti-epileptic drugs, many of which have side effects,” Grinspoon told UPI.

“It’s not difficult to see why there is such a determined parenting movement promoting cannabinoid access in pediatric epilepsy,” he added.

The researchers found that the individual dosage and blend of the cannabis oil was tailored by their doctors to suit each patient and warned against using the drug without proper supervision.

“Medical oversight is important,” said Zafar. “We encourage parents who wish to use these drugs for these children to contact clinics and discuss this option with their doctor.”

The study authors cited several limitations of the study, including the use of data that were retrospective and relied on caregiver memory, although parents often kept diaries to document seizures as documentation of their experiences. They also noted that the study was non-randomized and did not include a placebo group to compare the results with.

The researchers also cited the study’s small sample size as a limitation, but found that the results were consistent with other research. The authors called for further studies on the benefits of whole plant cannabis products for epilepsy patients suffering from seizures.

A research report, “Medical cannabis for Severe Treatment-Resistant Epilepsy in Children: A Case Series of 10 Patients” was published by BMJ Pediatrics Open on December 14th.