Krunal H. Patel¹, Pramod Theetha Kariyanna², Apoorva Jayarangaiah³, Nabila Khondakar¹, Madina Abduraimova¹, Samy I. McFarlane^1,

With the rise of the number of states fully legalizing marijuana, the use of this substance in the United States is at an all-time high. This increasing legalization gives the impression that marijuana is rather safe. However, multiple reports by our groups and others documented serious cardiovascular complications associated with marijuana use ranging from life threatening arrhythmia to myocarditis and myocardial infarction. In this report, we present a case of a 61 year old man presented with left sided typical chest pain shortly after marijuana consumption with the diagnosis of non ST-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) established based on clinical, EKG and troponin values with eventual cardiac catheterization documenting non-occlusive coronary artery disease with 30% obstruction of the proximal first obtuse marginal artery. We also review the putative pathophysiologic mechanisms of marijuana induced coronary vasospasms, highlighting the implications of these findings in the evaluation and management of cardiac chest pain in marijuana users.

marijuana, cannabis, myocardial infarction, vasospasm