Cannabis Oil in an Irish Children’s Critical Care Unit

Abstract

We present a case of a five-year-old female admitted postoperatively to the Paediatric Critical Care Unit (PCCU). She had a history of refractory seizures. Her parents had obtained cannabis oil from the United States and were administering it to her at night, in addition to her regular anticonvulsant medication. Her parents reported decreased seizure frequency since its commencement. The child had elective tonsillectomy for management of significant obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), possibly exacerbated by the sedative properties of cannabis. The admitting surgical and critical care teams were unaware that the child was regularly receiving cannabis until 14 hours after admission to hospital. The PCCU and the hospital do not currently have any guidelines to assist medical and nursing staff with the safe use of this potentially psychogenic preparation. The Irish Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) published a scientific review on the subject in January 20171. After discussion with the child’s parents, we agreed an administration regimen, the timing of which was separate to regular sedative medication in view of the child’s history of OSA. The child’s postoperative course and stay in PCCU was uncomplicated.