There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.
Abstract
The respiratory toxicity of cannabis is well known today. Along with the classic cannabis
'joint', there are other ways of consuming it, which should be known. Smoking cannabis
that has been cut with micro-particles of silicon dioxide may cause hemoptysis. We
will describe here the case of a young 16-year-old man who was in the hospital because
of hemoptic expectoration. The etiologic investigation was negative, in particular
a thoracic scan and a bronchial fiberscope. Questioning the patient afterwards allowed
us to discover the inhalation of cannabis 2 h before the hemoptysis, cannabis mixed
with micro-particles of silicon dioxide. Stopping inhalation stopped the symptoms.
Pediatricians should be familiarized with such practices. Silicon dioxide particles
cause ENT problems or bronchial ones (coughing, spitting, hemoptysis, wheezing). Over
the long term, the risk of silicosis cannot be excluded, although a longer and more
complete exposure is necessary.