Marijuana Induced Myocarditis: A New Entity of Toxic Myocarditis

Pramod Theetha Kariyanna¹, Apoorva Jayarangaiah², Navneet Singh³, Teresa Song³, Stanley Soroka³, Abhimanyu Amarnani³, Justina Ray³ and Samy I. McFarlane^3,

¹Division of Cardiovascular Disease, Department of Internal Medicine, State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A- 11203.

²Department of Internal Medicine, Wake Forest University, Baptist Health System, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, U.S.A-27157.

³Department of Internal Medicine, State University of New York Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A- 11203.

Cite this paper

Pramod Theetha Kariyanna, Apoorva Jayarangaiah, Navneet Singh, Teresa Song, Stanley Soroka, Abhimanyu Amarnani, Justina Ray and Samy I. McFarlane. Marijuana Induced Myocarditis: A New Entity of Toxic Myocarditis. American Journal of Medical Case Reports. 2018; 6(9):169-172. doi: 10.12691/AJMCR-6-9-1

Abstract

Marijuana is the most common drug of abuse in the United States. Marijuana has more than 460 active chemical compounds including δ-9- tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). It acts via the CB1 and CB2 receptors that are distributed in various tissues in the body. Marijuana is known to cause tachycardia, bradycardia, hypertension, to decrease time angina, myocardial infarction and cardiac arrest. Till date, four cases of myocarditis/perimyocarditis associated with marijuana use have been reported. In one such case, it led to the development of heart failure in a young male patient. It is not clear if marijuana in and of itself causes myocarditis/perimyocarditis or if the etio-pathogenesis is actually related to the contaminants in marijuana such as pesticides and heavy metals. We hereby present a young male who with myocarditis related to marijuana use. Clinicians should have suspicion for myocarditis or perimyocarditis in patients presenting with chest pain following marijuana use.

Keywords

marijuana, myocarditis, toxic myocarditis

Copyright

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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