4 responses to “Tokes in the throat: cannabis smoking-related harm in otolaryngology”

  1. I had a couple of patients in their 30s, Cannabis smokers, who developed some Cardiac Failure.
    I also read a Medical article saying that CHF could be a side effect of Cannabis Smoking.
    Have you ever encountered that?

  2. I am curious as to the increased risk of cancers for clients who smoke both cigarettes and cannabis. I imagine the clients who smoke both are at a much higher risk but numbers are sometimes helpful when discussing with clients

  3. Dear Gabriella Lorenzon, Thank you for your question on cardiac failure from cannabis use. As an ENT surgeon, I do not usually treat patients with cardiac failure. The BC College of Physicians & Surgeons has a Practice Standard Guideline on Cannabis use. It recommends against cannabis use in patients with a history of cardiovascular disease (angina, peripheral vascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, arrhythmia)

  4. Dear Danielle, nicotine and cannabis smoking is believed to have a synergistic effect with increasing the risk of head & neck cancer. Exact numbers are difficult to determine from the literature and these two effects are often confounders in studies. Reference 4 from this article reported “Compared with never marijuana smokers, ever marijuana smokers had an elevated risk of oropharyngeal (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 1.24; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.06, 1.47). The risk of oropharyngeal cancer remained elevated among never tobacco and alcohol users”

    Marks M, Chaturvedi A, Kelsey K, et al. Association of marijuana smoking with oropharyngeal and oral tongue cancers: Pooled analysis from the INHANCE consortium. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2014;23(1):160-171. DOI:10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-13-0181

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