Cannabinoids for Cancer-related Pain Management: An Update on Therapeutic Applications and Future Perspectives
Sabrina Bimonte 1, Davide Nocerino 2, Daniela Schiavo 2, Marco Crisci 2, Marco Cascella 3, Arturo Cuomo 2
- 1Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care-Istituto Nazionale Tumori IRCCS Fondazione Pascale, Naples, Italy; s.bimonte@istitutotumori.na.it.
- 2Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care-Istituto Nazionale Tumori IRCCS Fondazione Pascale, Naples, Italy.
- 3Unit of Anesthesiology, Intensive Care Medicine, and Pain Medicine, Department of Medicine, Surgery, and Dentistry, University of Salerno, Baronissi, Italy.
Affiliationer
Pain is a debilitating phenomenon that dramatically impairs the quality of life of patients. Many chronic conditions, including cancer, are associated with chronic pain. Despite pharmacological efforts that have been conducted, many patients suffering from cancer pain remain without treatment. To date, opioids are considered the preferred therapeutic choice for cancer-related pain management. Unfortunately, opioid treatment causes side effects and inefficiently relieves patients from pain, therefore alternative therapies have been considered, including Cannabis Sativa and cannabinoids. Accumulating evidence has highlighted that an increasing number of patients are choosing to use cannabis and cannabinoids for the management of their soothing and non-palliative cancer pain and other cancer-related symptoms. However, their clinical application must be supported by convincing and reproducible clinical trials. In this review, we provide an update on cannabinoid use for cancer pain management. Moreover, we tried to turn a light on the potential use of cannabis as a possible therapeutic option for cancer-related pain relief.
