Malignant gliomas are a relatively uncommon but fatal form of brain tumour. Glioma patients who are at present treated with a combination of surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy have an average survival time of 40 to 50 weeks.
This form of brain tumour can be reproduced in rodents by inoculating tumour cells into the rodent's brain. The resulting tumour grows very rapidly leading to death within 2 -3 weeks.
Scientists have found that the administration of some of the chemicals found in cannabis into the brain tumour in these rodents eradicated the tumour in a third of the animals and prolonged the survival of another third for up to six weeks. In the remaining animals the cannaboid chemicals had no effect on the tumour.
The fact that these tumours are very resistant to traditional therapy and that sufferers have a very bleak outlook should ensure that this research is developed further.
