Medical Cannabis for Intractable Epilepsy in Childhood: A Review

Abstract

In recent years, cannabis has been gaining increasing interest in both the medical research and clinical fields, with regard to its therapeutic effects in various disorders. One of the major fields of interest is its role as an anticonvulsant for refractory epilepsy, especially in the pediatric population. This paper presents and discusses the current accumulated knowledge regarding artisanal cannabis and Epidiolex®, a United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved pure cannabidiol (CBD), in epilepsy management in pediatrics, by reviewing the literature and raising debate regarding further research directions.

Keywords

• artisanal cannabis
• cbd
• intractable epilepsy
• dravet syndrome
• lennox–gastaut syndrome