“Background: Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is characterized by progressive deterioration in behaviors, executive function and/or language. The behavioral variant (Bv) is characterized by disinhibition and obsessive/compulsive behaviors. These symptoms are sometimes resistant to medications. This series examines patients suffering with treatment-resistant Bv-FTD who were prescribed cannabinoid and related compounds for other indications.
Case presentation: Three FTD cases from a dementia clinic were identified. These patients had disability due to behavior despite typical pharmacologic management. These patients were prescribed marijuana for comorbidities (anxiety, insomnia and pain). In all cases, use of cannabinoid products showed significant improvements in behavior and in the primary indication for prescription.
Conclusion: Review of these cases demonstrates potential for the use of cannabinoids in the management of treatment-resistant Bv-FTD.”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33190583/
“Frontotemporal dementia is a complicated and difficult disease that can be challenging to manage and often leads to significant burden on caregivers. Sometimes management of behavioral changes is difficult even with medications. In this case series, we report three cases of patients with behavior that was resistant to typical treatment who showed improvement in behavior when they were prescribed medical marijuana for other reason.”