Marijuana Use, Respiratory Symptoms, and Pulmonary Function
Authors: Ivan Caviedes, Gonzalo Labarca, Claudio F. Silva, Sebastian Fernandez-Bussy
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2019)

Letters15 January 2019Marijuana Use, Respiratory Symptoms, and Pulmonary FunctionIvan Caviedes, MD, Gonzalo Labarca, MD, Claudio F. Silva, MD, MSc, and Sebastian Fernandez-Bussy, MDIvan Caviedes, MDUniversidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile (I.C., C.F.S.)Search for more papers by this author, Gonzalo Labarca, MDUniversidad San Sebastian, Concepción, Chile (G.L.)Search for more papers by this author, Claudio F. Silva, MD, MScUniversidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile (I.C., C.F.S.)Search for more papers by this author, and Sebastian Fernandez-Bussy, MDMayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida (S.F.)Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/L18-0614 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail TO THE EDITOR:We read Ghasemiesfe and colleagues' review (1) about the harms of marijuana use on pulmonary function with interest. Here, we add what we believe is a previously unreported potentially severe adverse effect of smoking marijuana.A 21-year-old woman presented with sudden-onset dyspnea and hemoptysis immediately after smoking marijuana with a water pipe. The patient had a 4–pack-year history of smoking tobacco cigarettes and smoked marijuana sporadically.On physical examination, she had severe breathlessness and bilateral crackles. The initial Pao2–FIo2 ratio was 100. A chest radiograph showed bilateral opacities, and computed tomography of the chest showed widespread centrilobular ...References1. Ghasemiesfe M, Ravi D, Vali M, Korenstein D, Arjomandi M, Frank J, et al. Marijuana use, respiratory symptoms, and pulmonary function: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Ann Intern Med. 2018;169:106-15. [PMID: 29971337]. doi:10.7326/M18-0522 LinkGoogle Scholar2. Gill A. Bong lung: regular smokers of cannabis show relatively distinctive histologic changes that predispose to pneumothorax [Letter]. Am J Surg Pathol. 2005;29:980-2. [PMID: 15958866] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar3. Camus P. Cannabis oil, paste, resin—H oil. Pneumotox Online. 2018. Accessed at www.pneumotox.com/drug/view/1387/cannabis-oil on 3 July 2018. Google Scholar4. He T, Oks M, Esposito M, Steinberg H, Makaryus M. “Tree-in-bloom”: severe acute lung injury induced by vaping cannabis oil. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2017;14:468-70. [PMID: 28248584] doi:10.1513/AnnalsATS.201612-974LE CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar5. Schauer GL, King BA, Bunnell RE, Promoff G, McAfee TA. Toking, vaping, and eating for health or fun: marijuana use patterns in adults, U.S., 2014. Am J Prev Med. 2016;50:1-8. [PMID: 26277652] doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2015.05.027 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile (I.C., C.F.S.)Universidad San Sebastian, Concepción, Chile (G.L.)Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida (S.F.)Disclosures: Authors have disclosed no conflicts of interest. Forms can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=L18-0614. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsSee AlsoMarijuana Use, Respiratory Symptoms, and Pulmonary Function Mehrnaz Ghasemiesfe , Divya Ravi , Marzieh Vali , Deborah Korenstein , Mehrdad Arjomandi , James Frank , Peter C. Austin , and Salomeh Keyhani Metrics Cited byASRA Pain Medicine consensus guidelines on the management of the perioperative patient on cannabis and cannabinoidsAlveolar hemorrhage due to marijuana smoking using water pipe made with plastic bottle: case report and narrative review of the literaturePot smokers puffing away lung health 15 January 2019Volume 170, Issue 2Page: 142KeywordsAddictionAntibodiesCocaineComputed axial tomographyDyspneaHemorrhageMarijuanaPulmonary functionThoraxVasculitis ePublished: 15 January 2019 Issue Published: 15 January 2019 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2019 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...