Systematic Reviews
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Oncol. Jul 24, 2024; 15(7): 908-919
Published online Jul 24, 2024. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v15.i7.908
Investigating the therapeutic efficacy of psilocybin in advanced cancer patients: A comprehensive review and meta-analysis
Husam Bader, Husam Farraj, Joud Maghnam, Yazan Abu Omar
Husam Bader, Yazan Abu Omar, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States
Husam Farraj, Department of Internal Medicine, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87106, United States
Joud Maghnam, Faculty of Medicine, AL-Balqa Applied University, Al-Salt 19110, Jordan
Author contributions: Bader H and Farraj H performed data extraction and data analysis; Maghnam J assisted in manuscript writing; Abu Omar Y designed the study and assisted in manuscript writing.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: Https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Husam Bader, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, 1500 E Medical Center Dr, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States. h.bader87@gmail.com
Received: March 4, 2024
Revised: May 22, 2024
Accepted: June 11, 2024
Published online: July 24, 2024
Processing time: 133 Days and 7 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Psilocybin-assisted therapy shows promising results in improving quality of life, pain control, and anxiety relief for patients with advanced cancer. This systematic review and meta-analysis of 7 studies involving 132 participants demonstrated significant reductions in anxiety symptoms and sustained improvements in psychological well-being following psilocybin therapy. These findings highlight the potential therapeutic benefits of psilocybin in palliative care settings.