Systemic air embolism is known to rarely complicate blunt chest trauma. However, cerebral infarction caused by air emboli possibly originating from a traumatic pneumatocele has not been previously reported. We report a case of a 46-year-old woman who sustained blunt chest trauma with multiple rib and clavicular fractures, hemothorax and a huge, tense traumatic pneumatocele. She subsequently dev...

The delivery of gaseous microemboli (GME) by the cardiopulmonary bypass circuit should be minimized whenever possible. Innovations in components, such as the integration of arterial line filter (ALF) and ALFs with reduced priming volumes, have provided clinicians with circuit design options. However, before adopting these components clinically, their GME handling ability should be assessed. Thi...

The case report of acute coronary episode caused by air embolism associated with the removal of central vascular access, published in "Anaesthesiology Intensive Therapy"1/2012 aroused much interest [1]. Iatrogenic gas emboli are rare, albeit dramatic complications of therapeutic interventions,which result in persistent neurological symptoms in over 40% of cases [2].

Submarine escape training for submarine personnel has been conducted by the U. S. Navy since 1930. By 1957, more than 250,000 ascents had been recorded. Most casualties due to this traininginvolved extra-alveolar air and/or embolism, and those few casualties which have occurred had usually been recorded and reported. In view of this, several questions were asked, among them one concerning the i...

Hyperb Med 2009; 36: 407–8 14 Souday V, Radermacher P, Asfar P. Cerebral arterial gas embolism— a race against time! Crit Care Med 2013; 41: 1817–9 15 Ploner F, Saltuari L, Marosi MJ, Dolif R, Salsa A. Cerebral air emboli with use of central venous catheter in mobile patient. Lancet 1991; 338: 1331 16 Fracasso T, Karger B, Schmidt PF, Reinbold WD, Pfeiffer H. Retrograde venous cerebral air embo...

BACKGROUND Systemic air embolism is a rare but potentially life-threatening complication of percutaneous computed tomography (CT)-guided lung biopsy. The incidence might be underestimated because of failure to diagnose this adverse event in asymptomatic patients; early recognition is difficult. CASE PRESENTATION We report the case of a 73-year-old man with systemic air embolism, a complicatio...