Doctor have reported the suit of a man whose fingers turned gloomy , following a chronicle of heavy cannabis use . His circumstance , cannabis arteritis , is a very rarified but sometimes serious side - effect of heavy economic consumption of the drug .
The 49 - year - honest-to-goodness gentleman , draw as " otherwise healthy " in a casing report release in theAnnals of Emergency Medicine , designate up at the pinch section of Boston Medical Center with gamey - colour fingertip ( image in original paper ) , plus ulcers on his figure . For the late six weeks , he had experienced intermittent painful breakdowns in the tegument on his fingers . Upon performing an exam , he was observe to have an inadequate blood provision to his hand .
A aesculapian history taken from the patient apace revealed the cause . He had " a history of lumbering marijuana smoking " with no tobacco use , and was diagnosed withcannabis arteritis . This is an fantastically rarefied vascular disease that can cause sphacelus ( stagnant tissue),usually in lower appendages . To put into context of use how rare the circumstance is , only around 50 confirmed lawsuit were published in the aesculapian literaturebetween 1960 and 2008 , largely in younger male patients .
If left untreated, the condition can result in amputation. Image credit: El Omri Naoual et al/The Pan African Medical Journal(CC by 2.0)
Though the low preponderance of cases has left the precise mechanism of the condition unsettled , inrat studiesit has been picture that delta8- and delta9 - tetrahydrocannabinol ( THC ) , set up in ganja , can act as peripheral pressor . Where cannabis is interracial with tobacco , arsenic could also be a factor
As painful and alarming as the condition can surely be for patient , treatment is relatively simple-minded as long as the necrosis has not progressed too far .
" Treatment consists of smoking cessation , which is the only definitive means to halt disease progression and avoid amputation , " the authorswrote in their composition . " Without discontinuation , amputation rates may be as eminent as 40 % . "
