Frontline Express | Study shows that topical cannabidiol may be effective in treating systemic scleroderma digital ulcers

Author： unigreensz.com Time：2023-10-10 11:16:21 Read：465

 

An Italian study shows that topical cannabidiol can safely promote healing of digital ulcers and improve patients' quality of life while also relieving pain in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc).

 Patients who received the treatment also experienced an increase in the number of hours they slept each night.

 The study, "Topical cannabidiol in the treatment of digital ulcers in patients with scleroderma: a comparative analysis and literature review," was published in the journal Advances in Skin & Wound Care.

 Digital ulcers are extremely painful for SSc patients, and the wounds are difficult to heal and often reduce the patient's quality of life.

 Standard treatments (such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, opioids, etc.) are often insufficient to relieve pain or are limited by side effects. Topical treatments have been extensively studied in patients with SSc, but the efficacy of these therapies is unclear.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 In this study, a research team from the University Hospital of Modena investigated the effectiveness of topical cannabidiol (CBD) in treating finger ulcers in patients with SSc.  CBD contains a non-psychoactive component of the cannabis plant that has attracted increasing scientific interest in recent years.

 The research team evaluated 45 patients with SSc (40 of whom were women). The average age of patients was 53 years old, and the average disease duration was 10.68 years. The majority of patients (35 patients) had localized scleroderma, and the remaining 10 patients had diffuse scleroderma.

 These subjects suffering from digital ulcers were resistant to maximally tolerated doses of opioid therapy. All patients received local and systemic treatments, including Ventavis (generic name: iloprost), calcium channel blockers, Revatio (generic name: sildenafil), based on their clinical status and comorbid conditions (eg, pulmonary hypertension). non) and/or Tracleer (generic name: bosentan) or Opsumit (generic name: macitentan).

  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------                  

The research results showed that after one month of treatment, the wound related pain score significantly decreased, from 8.4 points to 6 points. The score for spontaneous pain (i.e. pain caused by autonomous behaviors such as dressing and cleaning) or the treatment process decreased from 9.32 points to 6.8 points. During the same period, the reported wound pain score of the control group decreased from 8.44 points to 7.88 points, but there was no statistically significant difference, while the spontaneous pain score remained stable.

In the cannabinoid group, 12 subjects needed additional analgesics to control pain, namely acetaminophen (4 cases), acetaminophen+codeine (2 cases), oxycodone (4 cases), and morphine (2 cases). In the control group, all subjects were required to use additional analgesics.

For subjects taking cannabinoid, the average sleep time per night significantly increased from 2.56 hours to 5.67 hours. The disability index (a self measure of daily living ability) in the health assessment questionnaire decreased from 2.19 to 0.79 at the end of follow-up, reflecting an improvement in quality of life. In the control group, there was no significant change in these parameters.

By the end of the study, 18 participants (72%) in the cannabinoid group had fully healed finger ulcers, which was higher than the 6 participants (30%) in the control group. Importantly, there was no infection in the cannabinoid group, while 6 patients in the control group needed antibiotic treatment for wound infections.

No serious adverse events have been reported. Similarly, no patients experienced severe adverse reactions related to treatment. Seven (28%) subjects who took cannabinoid reported mild adverse reactions such as itching and redness of the skin around the wound. No subjects stopped treatment with cannabinoid.

The current study reports for the first time the effectiveness of local use of cannabinol in the treatment of SSc-DUs (finger tip ulcers in scleroderma), "the researchers wrote, adding," This preliminary result further confirms that cannabis seed oil as a potential therapy for local treatment of SSc-DUs, except for a few minor adverse reactions, has no serious adverse reactions