Hi

Thanks for the query

Smoking Marijuana for a day will not be having many adverse effects during general anesthesia, but if you have done so on a regular basis in the recent past, then you should inform your doctor.

A major concern in the anesthetic management of the substance abusing patient is the appearance of cardiac arrhythmia (change in the rhythm of heart beat). The mechanism for the induction of these arrhythmias is considered secondary to coronary artery vasospasm resulting in myocardial ischemia (reduced blood supply to muscles of the heart).

Apart from the above problem, the drugs used for induction of anesthesia can have adverse effects on the other major systems in the body such as liver, kidneys and lungs. Finally, during the recovery period, the dosage of analgesics has to be increased as the threshold of pain would have reduced because of substance abuse.

Hence, keeping all these possibilities in the mind, I would suggest you to inform your doctor about the substance abuse.

Hope I have answered your query; I will be available for the follow-up query.

Regards
Dr. Naveen Kumar N.
ENT and Head & Neck Surgeon

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