A healthy 26-year-old woman’s sudden loss of heart function appears to have had an unusual cause: cannabis. In a recent report, her doctors described what they believe to be a rare case of cannabis-induced cardiac arrest.
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 appeared to have no preexisting heart problems or other reasons for her heart stopping outside her cannabis use, the doctors determined. The woman’s prolonged cardiac arrest caused serious but non-permanent brain injury, and she thankfully made a complete recovery following prolonged rehabilitation.
“This case highlights the potential for cannabis use to induce life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias… even in young adults with no prior cardiovascular risk factors,” the authors wrote.
No other explanation
According to the report, the woman’s fiancé heard her making an unusual noise in the bathroom, after which he found her unresponsive. He called over emergency services, who soon arrived and diagnosed her with ventricular fibrillation: a life-threatening type of abnormal heart rhythm (arrhythmia) caused by the heart’s lower chambers contracting rapidly and randomly; this then prevents the heart from pumping blood and oxygen normally to the rest of the body.
The responding EMS team restored her blood circulation with advanced cardiac life support, and she was rushed over to the hospital. Though doctors stabilized her condition, she required intubation. The sustained loss of circulation resulted in major brain injury, according to the report.
The woman had no structural heart disease prior to her cardiac arrest, nor a relevant family history or detected genetic markers that would predispose her to heart problems. The only thing that stood out, the doctors wrote, was the woman’s “heavy cannabis use” just before her cardiac arrest.
Though they can’t completely rule out other possibilities, such as a bout of myocarditis (heart muscle inflammation) that went undiagnosed, the timing and lack of other clear explanations makes it “probable” that cannabis caused her cardiac arrest, the doctors concluded.
A rare danger
Though cannabis is less dangerous than other legal recreational drugs like alcohol and cigarette smoking, there have been other rare reports of cannabis-induced cardiac arrest.
The report authors say this case is particularly unusual compared to those past reports, however, since it involved a healthy young adult with no other risk factors or preexisting heart issues that would have made them more vulnerable to cardiac arrest. That said, some research has also suggested that chronic cannabis use in general can potentially increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and heart attacks. The authors also point to studies indicating that THC (the main ingredient responsible for the “high” of cannabis) can induce arrhythmia.
The lesson to take away
Though the woman did require hospitalization for several weeks, both her heart and brain function gradually recovered. After her hospital trip, she was given a wearable cardioverter-defibrillator to monitor and ensure a healthy heart rhythm. The doctors wrote that she eventually made a “complete cardiac and neurological recovery.”
Rare as this sort of case might be, it’s likely that many people don’t even know about the possible cardiovascular risks of cannabis, the doctors say. So they hope their report can encourage further research into how the drug may negatively affect the heart, along with greater visibility of this issue in the first place.
“Recreational cannabis use is steadily increasing among both adults and youth due to expanding legalization and easy accessibility, underscoring the urgent need for greater public and clinical awareness of its potential health risks,” they wrote.
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