Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Feb;25(1):74-79.
doi: 10.1002/epd2.20049. Epub 2023 Apr 17.

Highly purified cannabidiol improves stability and postural tone in adult patients with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome: A case series

Carmen Calvello  1 , Mariana Fernandes  1 , Clementina Lupo  1 , Fabio Placidi  1   2 , Francesca Izzi  2 , Ciro Bianco  3 , Maria Grazia Celeste  3 , Nicola Biagio Mercuri  1   2 , Claudio Liguori  1   2
Affiliations

Highly purified cannabidiol improves stability and postural tone in adult patients with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome: A case series

Carmen Calvello et al. Epileptic Disord. 2023 Feb.

Abstract

Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS) is a severe developmental epileptic encephalopathy associated with numerous neurological signs and symptoms. Altered postural tone and the need for a caregiver-assisted wheelchair are features characterizing patients with LGS. Highly purified cannabidiol (CBD) is a novel antiseizure medication (ASM) recommended for seizure treatment, in combination with clobazam, in patients with LGS. Adding CBD to the previous ASM treatment helps in reducing seizure frequency, specifically drop seizures, in patients with LGS in both clinical trials and real-world studies. However, no data about drug effects on postural tone, motor activity, gait, and stability are available. In this case series, three adult patients diagnosed with LGS were treated with CBD as an add-on. During the follow-up, a slight improvement in seizure frequency was observed. Unexpectedly, an amelioration in postural tone and stability, measured using the validated Gross Motor Function Classification System, was also detected. Our case series suggests that CBD may help in managing patients with LGS regarding seizure control and in improving other aspects of the clinical spectrum of the disease, such as postural tone and stability. The mechanisms at the basis of this improvement may be related, other than seizure reduction, to the drug's effect on the brain locomotor centers, as demonstrated in animal model studies.

Keywords: CBD; LGS; balance; epileptic encephalopathy; postural stability.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. Crumrine PK. Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. J Child Neurol. 2002;17:S70-5. https://doi.org/10.1177/08830738020170011001
    1. Markand ON. Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (childhood epileptic encephalopathy). J Clin Neurophysiol. 2003;20:426-41. https://doi.org/10.1097/00004691-200311000-00005
    1. Berg AT, Gaebler-Spira D, Wilkening G, Zelko F, Knupp K, Dixon-Salazar T, et al. Nonseizure consequences of Dravet syndrome, KCNQ2-DEE, KCNB1-DEE, Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, ESES: a functional framework. Epilepsy Behav. 2020;111:107287. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yebeh.2020.107287
    1. Park K, Hur Y, Kim S. Brainstem dysfunction in patients with late-onset Lennox-Gastaut syndrome: voxel-based morphometry and tract-based spatial statistics study. Ann Indian Acad Neurol. 2016;19:518-22. https://doi.org/10.4103/0972-2327.194462
    1. Specchio N, Wirrell EC, Scheffer IE, Nabbout R, Riney K, Samia P, et al. International League Against Epilepsy classification and definition of epilepsy syndromes with onset in childhood: position paper by the ILAE Task Force on Nosology and Definitions. Epilepsia. 2022;63:1398-442. https://doi.org/10.1111/epi.17241

LinkOut - more resources