Doctors blame cannabis for healthy woman’s heart arrest

A sudden loss of the heart function of a 26 -year -old woman in good health seems to have had an unusual cause: cannabis. In a recent report, his doctors have described what they believe to be a rare case of cardiac arrest induced by cannabis.

Doctors at the Wellstar Spalding Health System in Georgia detailed the strange incident earlier this week in the American Journal of Case Reports. The woman seemed to have no pre -existing heart problems or other reasons for her heart to stop outside her cannabis consumption, determined the doctors. The prolonged cardiac arrest of the woman caused a serious but not permanent brain lesion, and fortunately she made complete recovery after prolonged rehabilitation.

“This case highlights the potential for using cannabis to induce potentially deadly cardiac arrhythmias … Even in young adults without previous cardiovascular risk factors,” wrote the authors.

No other explanation

According to the report, the woman’s fiancé had heard him making an unusual noise in the bathroom, after which he found it insensitive. He called the emergency services, which quickly arrived and diagnosed him with a ventricular fibrillation: a potentially mortal abnormal cardiac rhythm (arrhythmia) caused by the lower chambers of the heart to contract quickly and at random; This then prevents the heart from pumping blood and oxygen normally to the rest of the body.

The EMS respondent team has restored its blood circulation with support for advanced heart life, and it was transported urgently to the hospital. Although doctors stabilized her condition, she needed intubation. The sustained loss of traffic led to a major brain lesion, according to the report.

The woman had no structural heart disease before her cardiac arrest, nor relevant family history or detected genetic markers who would predispose her to heart problems. The only thing that stood out, wrote the doctors, was the “heavy consumption of cannabis” of the woman just before her cardiac arrest.

Although they cannot completely exclude other possibilities, such as a blow of myocarditis (inflammation of the cardiac muscles) which is not diagnosed, the moment and the lack of other clear explanations make “probable” that cannabis caused its cardiac arrest, the doctors concluded.

Rare danger

Although cannabis is less dangerous than other legal recreational drugs such as alcohol and smoking, there have been other rare reports of cardiac arrest induced by cannabis.

The authors of the report claim that this case is particularly unusual compared to these previous reports, as it involved a young adult in good health without other risk factors or pre -existing heart issues that would have made them more vulnerable to cardiac arrest. That said, some research has also suggested that chronic cannabis consumption in general can potentially increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and heart attacks. The authors also point to studies indicating that the THC (the main ingredient responsible for the “high” of cannabis) can induce a arrhythmia.

Take -out lesson

Although women need hospitalization for several weeks, her heart and brain function has gradually recovered. After her trip to the hospital, she received a portable cardiofling defibrillator to monitor and ensure a healthy heart rate. The doctors wrote that she finally made a “complete cardiac and neurological recovery”.

As rare as this kind of case may be, it is likely that many people do not even know the possible cardiovascular risks of cannabis, say doctors. They therefore hope that their report can encourage additional research on how the drug can negatively affect the heart, as well as the greater visibility of this problem in the first place.

“The consumption of recreational cannabis increases regularly in adults and young people due to the expansion of legalization and easy accessibility, emphasizing the urgent need of a greater public and clinical awareness of its potential health risks,” they wrote.