A 48-year-old bladder cancer patient developed rhabdomyolysis with kidney failure requiring dialysis after synthetic cannabinoid use, highlighting an underrecognized toxicity of synthetic cannabinoids.
Emergency medicine physicians, nephrologists, toxicologists, surgical teams
Rhabdomyolysis required continuous renal replacement therapy
What the researchers found
A 48-year-old man with muscle-invasive bladder cancer who had undergone radical cystoprostatectomy developed severe back pain, reduced lower limb function, shortness of breath, elevated creatinine and creatine kinase, and decreased urine output postoperatively. Rhabdomyolysis was diagnosed and linked to synthetic cannabinoid use. The patient required continuous renal replacement therapy followed by hemodialysis.
Why it matters
Synthetic cannabinoids carry toxicity risks that are qualitatively different from natural cannabis. Rhabdomyolysis is a life-threatening complication that may be underrecognized in synthetic cannabinoid users, and its occurrence in a surgical patient illustrates how synthetic cannabinoid use can complicate medical care.
The numbers in context
48-year-old male; elevated creatinine and creatine kinase; required continuous renal replacement therapy then hemodialysis; mechanism through G-protein coupled receptor activation
How the study worked
Single case report documenting the clinical presentation, laboratory findings, diagnosis, and management of synthetic cannabinoid-induced rhabdomyolysis in a postoperative cancer patient. Includes literature review of the mechanism.
What this study cannot tell us
Single case report cannot establish frequency of this complication. Post-surgical context introduces confounding factors for rhabdomyolysis (immobility, medications, surgical stress). Difficult to definitively attribute rhabdomyolysis to synthetic cannabinoids versus other postoperative factors.
How to read the evidence
Single case report provides the lowest level of evidence but documents an important safety signal for synthetic cannabinoid toxicity.
When this study was published
2025 publication
The bigger picture
Synthetic cannabinoids are often more potent and unpredictable than natural cannabis, producing effects that have no parallel with plant-derived products. Rhabdomyolysis is part of a broader pattern of serious organ toxicity from synthetic cannabinoids that includes kidney injury, cardiac events, and seizures.
Questions still open
- How often does synthetic cannabinoid use cause clinically significant rhabdomyolysis? Should synthetic cannabinoid use history be routinely screened before surgery?
Common questions
What is rhabdomyolysis?
Are synthetic cannabinoids the same as marijuana?
Read the original research
Cannabinoids-Induced Rhabdomyolysis in a Patient: A Report of a Case and a Review of Literature.
Cureus, 17(3), e80809
Citation
AlKhateeb, Sultan; Albulushi, Bashaer; Joueidi, Khaled; Joueidi, Faisal. (2025). Cannabinoids-Induced Rhabdomyolysis in a Patient: A Report of a Case and a Review of Literature.. Cureus, 17(3), e80809. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.80809