Posted: Jan 23, 2025
LEXINGTON, Ky. (FOX 56) — Researchers at the University of Kentucky are in on a clinical trial on the use of medical cannabis for late-stage dementia patients. As research continues, those involved say this would be a game changer, especially with patients with minimal options.
Greg Jicha, M.D., Ph.D., is a neurologist and director of clinical trials at UK’s Sanders-Brown Center on Aging. Dr. Jicha is involved in the National Institutes of Health-funded and Food and Drug Administration-approved LiBBY Study, which involves looking into ways to keep these patients as comfortable as possible during their final years.
“The idea really came on the basis of a patient whose name was Libby, and she was cared for by a friend and colleague nationally,” Jicha said.
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Jicha said there is currently a pressing need for alternative treatments, and medical cannabis could be pointing towards a solution that involves easing agitation for these patients.
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“We have very few medicines used to provide comfort in the later stages of dementia. While the field is largely focused on finding ways to prevent or potentially slower stop the disease in its early stages, we’ve forgotten about those later-stage patients that aren’t eligible for those types of treatments,” Jicha said.
Like all studies, this research involves gathering as much crucial data as possible, and Jicha said it takes more than just local research to get this information.
“It has been available, and we have been enrolling folks in this study who are in the late stages of disease since June, but we need hundreds or more nationally to fill that trial to get the medical data that we need to potentially, in the future, get dementia on the list of conditions that are eligible for medical marijuana,” Jicha said.
The current widely available treatments often include sedatives, but Jicha said the goal is to find other ways to go about this, ways that involve the patient getting the absolute most of their time with their family.
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“Our ultimate goal is to not sedate and render unconscious these patients so that they feel nothing but rather provide them comfort and relief that allows them to engage in their final years of life,” Jicha said.
Jicha said this study needs volunteers. Anyone who knows anyone in the later stages of dementia who might benefit from this option is asked to call the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging at (859)-323-5661.
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