The authors report that 31% of the patients had ≥ 50% seizure reduction at three months, 31% at six months, 28% at 12 months and 20% at 24 months. The reduction was more pronounced if cannabidiol was combined with clobazam. The study concludes that cannabidiol is a treatment option in children and young adults with severe refractory epilepsy, but close evaluation of its effects is important to taper off treatment in case a treatment effect is lacking.
See full article
Cannabidiol treatment of severe refractory epilepsy in children and young adults
Monica Zilmer & Kern Olofsson
Epilepsy in children can be a part of Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, but other epilepsy diagnoses are also present. The paper of Zilmer and Olofsson describes results of a quality control study of cannabidiol off-label treatment in 78 children and young adults with severe refractory epilepsy, which took place from 2016 to 2019 at the Paediatric Department, Filadelfia Epilepsy Hospital, Denmark.