GuidelineSupportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer2023
MASCC guideline: cannabis for cancer-related pain and risk of harms and adverse events.
Guideline in Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 27 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 39 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Meta-analysis of medical cannabis outcomes and associations with cancer.Frontiers in oncology · 2025Pooled it
- Cannabis and Cannabinoids in Adults With Cancer: ASCO Guideline.Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology · 2024Guideline
- Medicinal cannabis for symptom control in advanced cancer: a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised clinical trial of 1:1 tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2025Trial
- Cannabis use and perceptions among rural and urban cancer patients and survivors from a Pennsylvania cancer center.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026Article
- The interplay of circadian rhythms and cancer pain: a narrative review.Journal of anesthesia, analgesia and critical care · 2026Review
- The impact of concomitant medications on treatment outcomes in patients with cancer receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors.Nature reviews. Cancer · 2026Review
- A comparative network analysis to explore cancer patient experiences with cannabis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Article
- Looking beyond traditional pain outcomes to better evaluate cannabis's true potential and limitations in chronic pain management.Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology · 2025Review
- Article
- Cannabinoids for the prevention of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in oncological therapy: a systematic review.Journal of cancer survivorship : research and practice · 2025Review
- Relationship between pain and nonopioid substance use in two national samples of cancer survivors.Cancer · 2025Article
- Pain Assessment and Management in Oncological Practice: A Survey from the Italian Network of Supportive Care in Oncology.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Opposing Effects of Cannabidiol in Patient-derived Neuroendocrine Tumor, Pheochromocytoma/Paraganglioma Primary Cultures.The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · 2024Article
- Clinical Benefits and Safety of Medical Cannabis Products: A Narrative Review on Natural Extracts.Pain and therapy · 2024Review
- Perceptions, prevalence, and patterns of cannabis use among cancer patients treated at 12 NCI-Designated Cancer Centers.Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Monographs · 2024Article
- Cannabis use after a cancer diagnosis in a population-based sample of cancer survivors.Cancer causes & control : CCC · 2024Article
- [Pharmacological pain management in cancer patients].Urologie (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2024Review
- Review
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
13 authors at 12 institutions in 7 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundApproximately 18% of patients with cancer use cannabis at one time as palliation or treatment for their cancer. We performed a systematic review of randomized cannabis cancer trials to establish a guideline for its use in pain and to summarize the risk of harm and adverse events when used for any indication in cancer patients.
methodsA systematic review of randomized trials with or without meta-analysis was carried out from MEDLINE, CCTR, Embase, and PsychINFO. The search involved randomized trials of cannabis in cancer patients. The search ended on November 12, 2021. The Jadad grading system was used for grading quality. Inclusion criteria for articles were randomized trials or systematic reviews of randomized trials of cannabinoids versus either placebo or active comparator explicitly in adult patients with cancer.
resultsThirty-four systematic reviews and randomized trials met the eligibility criteria for cancer pain. Seven were randomized trials involving patients with cancer pain. Two trials had positive primary endpoints, which could not be reproduced in similarly designed trials. High-quality systematic reviews with meta-analyses found little evidence that cannabinoids are an effective adjuvant or analgesic to cancer pain. Seven systematic reviews and randomized trials related to harms and adverse events were included. There was inconsistent evidence about the types and levels of harm patients may experience when using cannabinoids.
conclusionThe MASCC panel recommends against the use of cannabinoids as an adjuvant analgesic for cancer pain and suggests that the potential risk of harm and adverse events be carefully considered for all cancer patients, particularly with treatment with a checkpoint inhibitor.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.