An air embolism, or more WITCH generally gas embolism, is a medical condition caused by gas bubbles in the bloodstream (embolism in a medical context refers to any large moving mass or defect in the blood stream). Small amounts of air often get into the blood circulation accidentally during surgery and other medical procedures, but most of these in veins are stopped at the lungs, and a venous air embolism that shows symptoms is very rare. Death may occur if a large bubble of gas becomes lodged in the heart, stopping blood from flowing from the right ventricle to the lungs (this is similar to vapor lock in engine fuel systems). However, the amount of gas necessary for this to happen is quite variable, and also depends on a number of other factors, such as body position. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The term symptom (from the Greek meaning chance, mishap or casualty, itself derived from συμπιπτω meaning to fall upon or to happen to) has two similar meanings in the context of physical and mental health: Strictly, a symptom is a sensation or change in health function experienced by a patient. ... In the heart, a ventricle is a heart chamber which collects blood from an atrium (another heart chamber that is smaller than a ventricle) and pumps it out of the heart. ... The heart and lungs (from an older edition of Grays Anatomy) The lung is an organ belonging to the respiratory system and interfacing to the circulatory system of air-breathing vertebrates. ... Vapour lock is a problem internal combustion engines can suffer. ...

Gas embolism into an artery, termed arterial gas embolism, or AGE, is a more serious matter than in a vein, since a gas bubble in an artery may directly cause stoppage of blood flow to an area fed by the artery. The symptoms of AGE depend on the area of blood flow, and may be those of stroke or heart attack if the brain or heart (respectively) are affected. Description An air embolism, or more generally gas embolism, is a medical condition caused by gas bubbles in the bloodstream. ... Stroke (or cerebrovascular accident or CVA) is the clinical designation for a rapidly developing loss of brain function due to an interruption in the blood supply to all or part of the brain. ... Acute myocardial infarction (AMI or MI), more commonly known as a heart attack, is a disease state that occurs when the blood supply to a part of the heart is interrupted. ...

Pathogenesis

Air embolism can occur whenever a blood vessel is open and a pressure gradient exists favoring entry of gas. Because the pressure in most arteries and veins is greater than atmospheric pressure, an air embolus does not always happen when a blood vessel is injured. In the veins above the heart, such as in the head and neck, the pressure is less than atmospheric and an injury may let air in. This is one reason why surgeons must be particularly careful when operating on the brain, and why the head of the bed is tilted down when inserting or removing a central venous catheter from the jugular or subclavian veins. “Surgeon” redirects here. ... Italic text // ahh addiing sum spiice iin hurr`` For other uses, see Brain (disambiguation). ... In medicine, a central venous catheter (CVC or central (venous) line) is a catheter placed into a large vein in the chest or groin. ... The jugular veins are veins that bring deoxygenated blood from the head back to the heart via the superior vena cava. ... The subclavian vein is a continuation of the axillary vein and runs from the outer border of the first rib to the medial border of anterior scalene muscle. ...

When air enters the veins, it travels to the right side of the heart, and then to the lungs. This can cause the vessels of the lung to constrict, raising the pressure in the right side of the heart. If the pressure rises high enough in a patient who is one of the 20% to 30% of the population with a patent foramen ovale, the gas bubble can then travel to the left side of the heart, and on to the brain or coronary arteries. Such bubbles are responsible for the most serious of gas embolic symptoms. An atrial septal defect (ASD) is a group of congenital heart diseases that involve the inter-atrial septum of the heart. ... The coronary circulation consists of the blood vessels that supply blood to and from the heart muscle itself. ...

Trauma to the lung can also cause an air embolism. This may happen after a patient is placed on a ventilator and air is forced into an injured vein or artery, causing sudden death. Breath-holding while ascending from scuba diving may also force lung air into pulmonary arteries or veins in a similar manner, due to the pressure difference. In medicine, a trauma patient has suffered serious and life-threatening physical injury resulting in secondary complications such as shock, respiratory failure and death. ... A medical ventilator is a device designed to provide mechanical ventilation to a patient. ... Scuba diving is swimming underwater while using self-contained breathing equipment. ...

Air can be injected directly into the veins either accidentally or as a deliberate act. Examples include misuse of a syringe, and industrial injury resulting from use of compressed air. However, despite being employed by writers of fiction as a clandestine method of murder, amounts of air such as would be administered by a single small syringe are not likely to suddenly stop the heart, nor cause instant death. Single air bubbles in a vein do not stop the heart, due to being too small. However, such bubbles may occasionally reach the arterial system through a patent foramen ovale, as noted above, and cause random ischemic damage, depending on their route of arterial travel. A syringe nowadays nearly always means a medical syringe, but it can mean any of these: A simple hand-powered piston pump consisting of a plunger that can be pulled and pushed along inside a cylindrical tube (the barrel), which has a small hole on one end, so it can... An industrial injury is any disease or bodily damage resulting from working. ... Compressed air is used to refer to: Pneumatics, the use of pressurized gases to do work, as used in the Air car Breathing gas, often used in scuba diving, also to inflate buoyancy devices Compressed air can also be used for cooling using a vortex tube. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... An atrial septal defect (ASD) is a group of congenital heart diseases that involve the inter-atrial septum of the heart. ... In medicine, ischemia (Greek ισχαιμία, isch- is restriction, hema or haema is blood) is a restriction in blood supply, generally due to factors in the blood vessels, with resultant damage or dysfunction of tissue. ...

Air embolism can also occur during other types of surgery such as Caesarean section and orthopedic procedures. A caesarean section (AE cesarean section), or c-section, is a form of childbirth in which a surgical incision is made through a mothers abdomen (laparotomy) and uterus (hysterotomy) to deliver one or more babies. ... Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics (BE: orthopaedics) is the branch of surgery concerned with acute, chronic, traumatic and recurrent injuries and other disorders of the locomotor system, its musclular and bone parts. ...

Gas embolism in diving

Gas embolism is one of the diving disorders SCUBA divers sometimes suffer when they receive pressure damage to their lungs following a rapid ascent where the breath is inappropriately held against a closed glottis, allowing pressure to build up inside the lungs, relative to the blood. It is termed "gas" because the diver may be using a diving breathing gas other than air. The gas bubbles can impede the flow of oxygen-rich blood to the brain and vital organs. They can also cause clots to form in blood vessels. Divers face specific physical and health risks when they go underwater (e. ... Scuba diving is swimming underwater while using self-contained breathing equipment. ... Barotrauma is physical damage to body tissues caused by a difference in pressure between an air space inside or beside the body and the surrounding gas or liquid. ... The space between the vocal cords is called the glottis. ... Air is the most common and only natural breathing gas. ... Look up air in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Coagulation is the thickening or congealing of any liquid into solid clots. ... Human blood smear: a - erythrocytes; b - neutrophil; c - eosinophil; d - lymphocyte. ...

Gas embolism and decompression sickness (DCS) may be difficult to distinguish, as they may have similar symptoms, especially in the central nervous system. The treatment for both is the same, because they are both the result of gas bubbles in the body. In a diving context, the two are often called decompression illness (DCI). Decompression sickness (DCS), the diver’s disease, the bends, or caisson disease is the name given to a variety of symptoms suffered by a person exposed to a reduction in the pressure surrounding their body. ... A diagram showing the CNS: 1. ... This article needs cleanup. ...

Treatment

Recompression is the most effective treatment of an air embolism. Normally this is carried out in a recompression chamber. This is because as pressure increases, the solubility of a gas increases. A recompression chamber is a pressure vessel used to treat divers suffering from certain diving disorders such as decompression sickness. ...

Oxygen first aid treatment is useful for suspected gas embolism casualties or divers who have made fast ascents or missed decompression stops. Most fully closed-circuit rebreathers can deliver sustained high concentrations of oxygen-rich breathing gas and could be used as an alternative to pure open-circuit oxygen resuscitators. Oxygen first aid kit showing a demand valve and a constant flow mask Oxygen first aid or oxygen administration is a first aid treatment for many medical emergencies involving the organs of respiration and circulation such as heart attack, drowning, carbon monoxide poisoning, decompression illness, lung barotrauma and gas embolism. ... A rebreather is a type of breathing set that provides a breathing gas containing oxygen and recycles exhaled gas. ... Air is the most common and only natural breathing gas. ... Open circuit can mean: In electronics, where there is nothing connected to a load and no current can flow. ... A resuscitator is a device using positive pressure to inflate the lungs of an unconscious person who is not breathing, in order to keep him oxygenated and alive. ...

External links

• Arterial Gas Embolism