Julie Gardener
New Member
THC tested against brain tumour in pilot clinical study
Results of a clinical study with THC in nine brain cancer patients conducted in a hospital on Tenerife, Spain, were published in the British Journal of Cancer. Patients suffered from a gioblastoma, a very aggressive brain tumour, and had previously failed standard therapy (surgery and radiotherapy). Median survival was 24 weeks. Two patients survived nearly one year.
THC was administered directly into the tumour by a small catheter, whose tip was placed into the tumour during a surgery. The initial THC dose was 20-40 micrograms, which was increased to 80-180 micrograms daily. Patients were treated for 10-64 days. The treatment was well tolerated by all patients.
The tumours of the nine patients expressed different amounts of CB1 and CB2 receptors, but there was no correlation between receptor expression and survival. Due to the study design it was not possible to determine the effect of THC on survival. This would have required a control group with no or with a different treatment. A comparison with survival in pilot studies with other drugs suggests that THC may have been beneficial to the patients in this study. Researchers noted that THC at least did "not facilitate tumour growth nor decrease patient survival." They suggest further trials with cannabinoids on this and other types of tumours either alone or in combination with other anti-tumoural drugs.
(Source: Guzman M, Duarte MJ, Blazquez C, Ravina J, Rosa MC, Galve-Roperh I, Sanchez C, Velasco G, Gonzalez-Feria L. A pilot clinical study of Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol in patients with recurrent glioblastoma multiforme. Br J Cancer, 2006 Jun 27
Source: International Association for Cannabis as Medicine
