Study: Cannabis Use Affects Bypass Surgery Patient Outcomes

Results of a new study show that cannabis use may affect outcomes in patients of a common bypass surgery.

According to Michigan Medicine researchers, cannabis users may have increased chances of complications following a peripheral artery bypass.

Medicine researchers, cannabis users may have increased chances of complications following a peripheral artery bypass.

Drew Braet conducted the study with Jeremy Albright, Craig Brown, Nicholas Osborne, and Peter Henke.

The group utilized data from 11,000 Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Cardiovascular Consortium and published results in the Annals of Vascular Surgery.

A Minimally Invasive Bypass Surgery

A peripheral artery bypass involves rerouting blood around a blocked artery in the arms or legs using a synthetic tube.

Blockage can stem from peripheral arterial disease (PAD), caused by plaque buildup in blood vessels.

The condition is also called the hardening of the arteries.

PAD increases a person’s chance of having a heart attack or stroke.

Effects of Cannabis Use

According to researchers, 43 percent of people in the United States and Canada have used cannabis.

Study results indicated that cannabis-using patients had increased chances of blocked or occluded grafts.

Data showed that cannabis users were also 1.25 more likely to require amputation a year after the surgery.

Researchers say cannabis users were 1.56 more likely to use opioids after discharge.

University of Michigan Health Frankel Cardiovascular Center Director Peter Henke, says the findings are concerning.

“The findings show a need for screening cannabis use and open conversations between patients and clinicians to help inform preoperative risk assessment and decision-making for lower extremity bypass,” says Henke. “While its exact mechanisms are unclear, cannabis and its active compounds play a role in platelet function and microcirculation that may lead to decreased rates of limb salvage after lower extremity bypass.”

Cannabis and the Cardiovascular System

Researchers say past studies indicate cannabis use affects the cardiovascular system and heart attack and stroke risk.

According to researchers, cannabis use did not affect study patients’ heart attacks or strokes after lower extremity bypass surgeries.

The group says that additional research is necessary for a better understanding of how cannabis affects outcomes.

“While past studies on the effects of cannabis use on pain response suggested an increase in pain tolerance after smoking cannabis, our studies and other contemporary findings show the opposite,” says Braet. “Given the increase in cannabis use and abuse in conjunction with the opioid epidemic, the results suggest a need for a better understanding of pain management for cannabis users who are having vascular surgery.”

Researchers say findings will help clinicians provide better counsel to vascular surgery patients.