Smoked cannabis for chronic neuropathic pain: a randomized controlled trial
Mark A. Ware MBBS, Tongtong Wang PhD, Stan Shapiro PhD and colleagues
August 30, 2010

Cannabis smoked three times per day reduced the intensity of neuropathic pain, improved sleep and was well tolerated. In this randomized crossover trial of 23 patients, Ware and colleagues used three strengths of cannabis as well as placebo to test the effects of the drug. These findings are suggestive, but they need to be confirmed in larger long-term safety and efficacy studies, say the authors. Full article

COMMENTARY: More evidence cannabis can help in neuropathic pain

MORE RESEARCH

Intracerebral hemorrhage in a young man
August 30, 2010

A 27-year-old man was found to have drowsiness, slurred speech and right-sided weakness following a minor motor vehicle accident, although he had no history of head injury. Imaging of the brain showed an acute deep hemorrhage in the left basal ganglia, along with evidence of multiple previous hemorrhages in the white matter. Presentation at an expert case conference and an extensive literature review helped determine the cause. What is the diagnosis? Full article

MORE PRACTICE

Tests used to evaluate dizziness in primary care
July 19, 2010

Although dizziness is a common symptom in primary care, most studies on diagnosing dizziness have been conducted in highly selected groups of patients. There are many diagnostic tests available for assessing dizziness, but Dros and colleagues caution that physicians should be careful not to treat patients on the basis of test results that are inconsistent with the patient’s symptoms. Full article

MORE REVIEWS