Effectiveness of Medical Cannabis for the Treatment of Depression: A Naturalistic Outpatient Study.

BACKGROUND: There is a lack of studies on the course and effectiveness of medical cannabis in the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD). METHODS: Retrospective longitudinal (18 weeks) study of n=59 outpatients with MDD, treated with medical cannabis via a telemedical platform. Previous treatment with antidepressant medication was required for inclusion into the study. Standardized data collection was carried out at entry and during monthly consultations. Severity of depression was measured on a 0-10 point rating scale. Side-effects were assessed by a checklist. RESULTS: Patients were 20-54 years old; 72.9% were male; one third reported times of regular cannabis consumption within the previous five years. Drop-out rate was 22% after 18 weeks. Mean severity of depression decreased from 6.9 points (SD 1.5) at entry to 3.8 points (2.7) at week 18 (baseline observation carried forward; 95% CI for the mean difference: 2.4 to 3.8; p<0.001). A treatment response (>50% reduction of the initial score) was seen in 50.8% at week 18. One third of patients complained about side effects, none was considered as severe. Concomitant antidepressant medication (31% of patients) was not associated with outcome. CONCLUSIONS: Medical cannabis was well tolerated and dropout rate was comparable to those in clinical trials of antidepressant medication. Patients reported a clinically significant reduction of depression severity. Further research on the effectiveness of medical cannabis for MDD seems warranted. Risks of this medication, such as sustaining or inducing a cannabis use disorder, or side effects such as poor concentration, must be taken into consideration.

Medical Cannabis Alleviates Chronic Neuropathic Pain Effectively and Sustainably without Severe Adverse Effect: A Retrospective Study on 99 Cases.

Introduction: Medical cannabis may provide a treatment option for chronic neuropathic pain. However, empirical disease-specific data are scarce. Methods: This is a retrospective observational study including 99 patients with chronic neuropathic pain. These patients received medical cannabis by means of inhaling dried flowers with tetrahydrocannabinol content of <12-22% at a maximal daily dose of 0.15-1 g. Up to six follow-ups were carried out at intervals of 4-6 weeks. Pain severity, sleep disturbance, general improvement, side effects, and therapy tolerance at the follow-up consultations were assessed in interviews and compared with the baseline data using non-parametric Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Results: Within 6 weeks on the therapy, median of the pain scores decreased significantly from 7.5 to 4.0 (p < 0.001). The proportion of patients with severe pain (score >6) decreased from 96% to 16% (p < 0.001). Sleep disturbance was significantly improved with the median of the scores decreased from 8.0 to 2.0 (p < 0.001). These improvements were sustained over a period of up to 6 months. There were no severe adverse events reported. Mild side effects reported were dryness in mucous tissue (5.4%), fatigue (4.8%), and increased appetite (2.7%). Therapy tolerance was reported in 91% of the interviews. Conclusion: Medical cannabis is safe and highly effective for treating neuropathic pain and concomitant sleep disturbance.

[Medicine 4.0: examples of applications of electronics, information technology and microsystems in modern medicine]. / « Médecine 4.0 ¼ - Exemples d'application de l'électronique, de la technologie de l'information et des microsystèmes dans la médecine moderne.

The electronic advances of the last hundred years have made enormous contributions to medical research and the development of new therapeutic methods. In recent years in particular, it has been demonstrated that intelligent sensors, with appropriate radio interfaces, will soon allow diagnostic and therapeutic processes in medicine to be linked to one another - this will enable the development of completely new forms of therapy [1]. This new "Medicine 4.0" was the subject of a first article in the series, which presented the progress achieved through the merging of microsensor technology, microelectronics, information and communication technologies, with a particular focus on the case of personalized chemotherapy. The purpose of this new article is to present more practical applications of these new therapeutic methods.

[Medicine 4.0, the importance of electronics, information technology and microsystems in modern medicine - the case of customized chemotherapy]. / « Médecine 4.0 ¼ ou de l'importance des nouvelles technologies dans la médecine moderne - Le cas de la chimiothérapie personnalisée.

A paradigm shift seems to emerge, not only in industrial engineering ("Industry 4.0") but also in medicine: we are on the threshold to "Medicine 4.0". For many years, molecular biology had a leading position in life sciences, but today scientists start realizing that microelectronic systems, due to an increasing miniaturization, are reaching the scale of human cells and consequently can be used for therapeutic approaches. This article shows how microelectronics can play a major role in modern medicine, through the example of customized chemotherapy. This consists in determining, before the beginning of the treatment, what kind of chemotherapy or drug combination will be most effective for a given patient, and at which dose. This of course allows the lessening of a patient burden during treatment, but also to be more efficient and, in the long run, to save money. In order to do this, we have developed the Intelligent Microplate Reader (IMR), which allows us to accurately test different drugs on living cells by mimicking part of their usual environment.