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The following is a summary of “Cannabinoids for Acute Postoperative Pain Management: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Clinical Trials,” published in the January 2025 issue of Pain by Cárdenas et al.
The need for better acute postoperative pain management has driven the exploration of new therapeutic alternatives to improve analgesic efficacy and reduce adverse events, as current intravenous medications have limited and unsafe efficacy.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of cannabinoids as a control agent for post-surgical pain.
They evaluated clinical trials to assess the efficacy and safety of cannabinoids for treating acute postoperative pain, adhering to the Cochrane recommendations. Primary outcomes included pain intensity reduction, the number and doses of rescue analgesics, and adverse events.
The results showed that of 62 articles identified, only 5 were included, 4 demonstrated high inter-observer agreement, and 60% were classified as having a low risk of bias. A disparity was observed in the investigative methods and terms used across the studies. Due to methodological heterogeneity, meta-analytic evaluations were not possible, and only qualitative assessments were conducted.
Investigators concluded the evidence regarding cannabis’s analgesic effect post-operatively was mixed, methodological differences in the studies precluded quantitative analysis and therefore recommended specific improvements for future cannabis clinical trials to generate stronger evidence for meta-analysis.
Source: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ejp.4790
