Cannabis arteritis:: four new cases

Introduction. - The responsibility of cannabis in juvenile thromboangeitis has been suggested for few years. We describe four new cases. Exegesis. - Young men presented with distal arteriopathy of the lower limbs in 3 cases, and of the left upper limb in the remaining patient. Symptoms occurred progressively, distal pulses had disappeared, and distal necrosis was constant. Three patients suffered from Raynaud phenomenon, none of them presented with venous thrombosis. Radiologic evaluation revealed distal abnormalities in all cases, and proximal arterial thrombosis in one case. The four patients were cannabis smokers for at least four years. With cannabis interruption and symptomatic treatment, lesions improved for three patients. For one of them, recurrence of arteriopathy occurred when he resumed to smoke cannabis. For the fourth one who never stopped cannabis, an amputation was necessary. Conclusion. - Search for cannabis use is important because interruption may improve prognosis. (C) 2003 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.