Medical cannabis study for spinal injury pain wins NSW Health funding – News – The University of Sydney

Professor Luke Henderson from the Brain and Mind Centre.

Researchers at the University of Sydney have been awarded $1.7 million to research the chronic pain that commonly occurs after spinal cord injury.

Unfortunately, half of all patients who suffer a spinal cord injury will develop chronic pain. This chronic neuropathic pain is often so severe that many regard it as the most debilitating consequence of their injury, said the studys lead investigator Professor Luke Henderson in the Brain and Mind Centre and the School of Medical Sciences.

Treatment options have proven ineffective and often introduce significant side effects that further exacerbate the condition, he said, highlighting a need for new treatment options.

This research project aims to use advanced brain imaging techniques to identify and understand the specific changes that are occurring in the brain after spinal trauma that lead to the development of chronic neuropathic pain.

The project has received $1.45 million from NSW Health and $350,000 from the University.

The research team expects that understanding the underlying changes in the brain will help identify or develop targeted and effective treatment options for this condition. One treatment option holding therapeutic potential is medicinal cannabis.

Professor Henderson, an expert in human brain imaging and pain has teamed up with cannabinoid, neuroinflammation and spinal injury experts to test the hypothesis that cannabidiol (CBD), one of the main and non-intoxicating compounds found in cannabis, could be an effective treatment option.

The researchers will test to see if cannabidiol can reduce the specific type of neuropathic pain that develops in spinal cord injury patients.

The research team includes Professor Iain McGregor, the academic director of the Lambert Initiative for Cannabinoid Therapeutics at the University of Sydney, Dr Elizabeth Cairns, a research fellow also from the Lambert Initiative, and Dr Sachin Shetty, a clinician at Prince of Wales hospital who works with spinal injury patients.

Cannabidiol is already being used by some patients who gain special access through the Therapeutic Goods Administration and they are reporting positive results.

According to Spinal Cord Injuries Australia, medicinal cannabis can help patients as it shuts down the sensation of pain. In other people, it helps them to disassociate and relax so that theyre not so aware of the pain, enabling them to get on with their day.

However, these reports are based on anecdotal evidence.

This newly funded study will rigorously assess cannabidiols efficacy at treating chronic pain after spinal cord injury.

Professor Henderson said: We will be able to explore for the first time, the effects of CBD on brain function in chronic pain and our ability to determine the relationship between changes in pain and brain structure and function associated with CBD.

The team of researchers plan to conduct a clinical trial that will give cannabidiol to patients with spinal cord injury-induced chronic pain to determine if it can reduce their pain. The first part of the study will compare brain images of individuals who develop chronic pain after spinal cord injury to those who do not. This will help determine underlying brain changes responsible for the chronic neuropathic pain.

In the second part of the study, a randomised, double-blind placebo-controlled study will be used to investigate cannabidiols ability to reduce pain.

While there are some studies showing that CBD can reduce pain in other chronic conditions, no one fully understands how it works to reduce pain. Our study can help tease this out, Professor Henderson said.

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Medical cannabis study for spinal injury pain wins NSW Health funding - News - The University of Sydney