Cannabinoid Product Holds Promise for Patients in Pain
Scientists at City of Hope are testing a pharmaceutical-grade cannabis-based medicine to determine whether it is effective in treating joint pain in breast cancer patients taking aromatase inhibitors.
The patient, a 67-year-old grandmother of three from Monrovia, California, had always been diligent about getting annual mammograms. Year after year, happily, nothing was found. Until spring 2023, when doctors at City of Hope® detected a problem in her right breast. A biopsy confirmed cancer, requiring surgery.
A lumpectomy was scheduled for August, but in the meantime, genetic screening found the BRCA2 mutation, indicating a high probability of additional breast cancer as well as ovarian cancer. As a result, the patient, who requested anonymity, opted for a double mastectomy.
As a further precaution, the patient also now takes the medication anastrozole, a so-called aromatase inhibitor that lowers the body’s levels of estrogen, a primary fuel for tumors. Aromatase inhibitors, such as letrozole, anastrozole or exemestane, are prescribed as standard of care for postmenopausal women with estrogen-receptor positive breast cancer to decrease breast cancer recurrence and mortality. Studies have shown that aromatase inhibitors do a better job at preventing cancer recurrence than tamoxifen, an older therapy once considered the treatment of choice.
But trouble developed after just 10 months.
“I had severe pain in my ankle and heel,” she recalled. Turns out, nearly half the women who take aromatase inhibitors develop significant joint pain. For some, the pain is so severe they stop taking the medication, putting their lives at risk. The patient almost did the same, cutting her dosage in half, taking it every other day instead of daily. She felt frustrated. “This was affecting my quality of life. It’s not acceptable that I couldn’t walk without pain.”
