HIGHLIGHTS
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Epilepsy is a neurobiological disorder that occurs in any age group and features persistent, recurrent, and long-lasting epileptic seizures that can lead to cognitive, social, and behavioral impairment.
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Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with impaired communication, socialization, and restrictive behavior. The prevalence of epilepsy is higher in patients with ASD when compared to the general population, just as the occurrence of ASD is higher in patients with epilepsy.
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The endocannabinoid system is composed of several enzymes, molecules, and two endogenous cannabinoid receptors, CB1 and CB2, the former being more abundant in the central nervous system, and the use of phytocannabinoid derivatives in epilepsy and ASD is an alternative option, especially in cases of resistance to pharmacological treatment.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:
Epilepsy and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are diseases with neuropsychiatric impairment, which, depending on their clinical presentation, can be treated with medical cannabis. The objective of this work is to present a brief review of the literature on the use of cannabinoids (CNB) in the management of ASD and epilepsy.
CONTENTS:
The elaboration of this review was made from search and selection. Searches were carried out in the following databases: LILACS, Medline via Pubmed, Scielo and Cochrane Library, published from January 2010 to December 2022.
CONCLUSION:
The use of CNB, both for epilepsy and for ASD, has been shown to be safe, however actual effectiveness has yet to be proven.
Keywords
Autism; Cannabidiol; Cannabis; Epilepsy.