Medical cannabis pain protocols available
Consensus-based recommendations have been developed to guide dosing and administration of medical cannabis for the treatment of patients with chronic pain.
The panel of 20 experts from around the world included Australian pain medicine specialists Dr Peter Georgius and Associate Professor Malcolm Hogg.
The panel developed three protocols for medical cannabis – a routine protocol for most patients, a conservative protocol for clinically frail patients or those with complex comorbidities, and a rapid protocol for urgent management of severe pain, palliation or for patients with a significant prior use of cannabis.
Safety considerations rule out patients with psychotic disorders, unstable cardiovascular disorders and pregnant or breastfeeding women.
There was no consensus regarding minimum or maximum age limits for CBD use or minimum age for THC use.
More data required on epilepsy surgery ahead of pregnancy
Previous epilepsy surgery does not appear to guarantee better seizure-control during subsequent pregnancies, according to an Australian registry study.
The study compared 74 pregnancies in women with surgically treated focal epilepsy and 1,013 pregnancies in women with medically treated epilepsy.
Seizures of all types, and also convulsive seizures, were less well controlled during pregnancy in the previously surgically treated cases.