Effects of Medical Cannabis on Use of Opioids and Hospital Visits by Patients With Painful Chronic Pancreatitis

Trevor S Barlowe; Jenna L Koliani-Pace; Kerrington D Smith; Stuart R Gordon; Timothy B Gardner

doi:10.1016/j.cgh.2019.01.018

Effects of Medical Cannabis on Use of Opioids and Hospital Visits by Patients With Painful Chronic Pancreatitis

Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2019 Nov;17(12):2608-2609.e1. doi: 10.1016/j.cgh.2019.01.018. Epub 2019 Jan 18.

Authors

Trevor S Barlowe¹, Jenna L Koliani-Pace¹, Kerrington D Smith¹, Stuart R Gordon¹, Timothy B Gardner²

Affiliations

¹ Section of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, New Hampshire.
² Section of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, New Hampshire. Electronic address: Timothy.B.Gardner@hitchcock.org.

PMID: 30664949
DOI: 10.1016/j.cgh.2019.01.018

Abstract

Pain is the most common and most debilitating aspect of chronic pancreatitis and is difficult to treat.^1-3 Clinical management of painful chronic pancreatitis includes abstinence from alcohol and tobacco products, analgesic medications (including opioids), antidepressant medications, and pancreatic enzyme replacement.^4-8 Medical cannabis has been proposed as a therapy for chronic pain and has shown some efficacy in neuropathic and cancer pain. In this study, we investigated the efficacy of medical cannabis on pain control for chronic pancreatitis.

MeSH terms

Analgesics, Opioid / therapeutic use*
Chronic Pain / drug therapy*
Cohort Studies
Drug Prescriptions / statistics & numerical data*
Emergency Service, Hospital / statistics & numerical data
Humans
Medical Marijuana / therapeutic use*
New Hampshire / epidemiology
Pancreatitis, Chronic / drug therapy*
Patient Admission / statistics & numerical data
Retrospective Studies
Vermont / epidemiology

Substances

Analgesics, Opioid
Medical Marijuana