From: The Spokesman Department | Rabin Medical Center - Beilinson and Hasharon
January 13, 2013

50-80% of people with Parkinson's disease suffer from a specific type of pain, which until today has not been diagnosed and treated as a general part of this disease.

A study recently conducted at Rabin Medical Center by Prof. Ruth Djaldetti, senior neurologist and head of the movement disorder clinic has found a genetic link which could explain this pain and the relation to treatment with cannabis.

The research examined eight genes known to be involved in pain, among 237 patients with Parkinson's disease. They found that those suffering from this type of pain have gene sequence changes associated with the activity of cannabis-like substances produced in the brain and another gene associated with pain transmission. According to Prof. Ruth Djaldetti, the results of the study support the approach that patients suffering from this type of pain might be able to find relief by treatment with cannabis and have a better quality of life. These initial results should now be more extensively studied in order to arrive at more conclusive evidence.

Prof. Ruth Djaldetti expects that in the future it will be possible to adjust medical treatment as according to the mapping of individual genes.

The study was published in the European Journal of Pain.