Cannabidiol Possibly Improves Survival of Patients with Pancreatic Cancer: A Case Series

Author Info

Rudolf Likar Gerhard Nahler

Corresponding Author

Gerhard Nahler
CIS Clinical Investigation Support GmbH, Vienna, Austria

A B S T R A C T

Background: Pancreatic cancer ranks among the deadliest solid tumors. When patients complain about symptoms, the tumor has already spread in the majority of cases to neighbouring tissues and organs with limited possibilities for surgical interventions. In a very recent population-based study which included a total of 36,453 patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, median overall survival was only 3.8 months. A growing number of articles suggest potential anticancer benefits of cannabinoids, in particular of cannabidiol (CBD). This is the first time that treatment experiences with CBD are described in patients with pancreatic cancer. Case Series: A total of nine consecutive patients with pancreatic cancer received CBD. All but two received standard chemotherapy in addition, two patients only CBD. CBD was usually administered in an oral daily dose of 400mg. The mean overall survival of these nine patients was 11.5 months (median 11 months). Conclusion: Overall survival seems to be about two times longer than reported in the population-based study mentioned above.

Article Info

Article Type

Case Series

Publication history

Received: Mon 20, Jul 2020
Accepted: Fri 31, Jul 2020
Published: Tue 18, Aug 2020

Copyright

© 2023 Gerhard Nahler. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Hosting by Science Repository.
DOI: 10.31487/j.COR.2020.08.18