This can lead to serious problems, such as astroke.
Fortunately, air embolisms are very rare.
In this article, youll learn about some of the different types of air embolisms and their potential causes.
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You’ll also learn about symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment.
Air embolisms are much less common than embolisms because of blood clots.
An air embolism that occurs in the veins is called venous air embolism.
If an air embolism is in your arteries, you have an arterial air embolism.
Air embolisms are also sometimes named for the location where they cause problems.
For example, when these air bubbles are in your brain, they are called cerebral air embolisms.
Air Embolism Symptoms
A small air embolism often doesnt cause any symptoms at all.
Many such air embolisms may never be detected and they eventually go away on their own.
However, when they do cause an issue, the result can be serious.
When symptoms do occur, they tend to come on suddenly.
If you are having a medical procedure and start to notice these signs, speak up right away.
Causes of Air Embolism
Air embolisms cause symptoms as they travel through a persons blood vessels.
Most often, air embolisms happen because of rare complications during medical procedures and surgeries.
The most common scenario is an air embolism that occurs during the placement of acentral line.
However, an embolism can occur during a number of other procedures that involve your blood vessels.
Key to diagnosing an air embolism is the timing.
Or they might start shortly after (within a day or so, but often sooner).
Sometimes, imaging that is being used for the medical procedure can help locate an abnormality.
This will greatly decrease the chance of major complications or death.
How Is an Air Embolism Treated?
If its available, the person also might be treated in something called ahyperbaric oxygen chamber.
This is especially important for people who have very serious symptoms.
What Is a Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber?
This gets more oxygen into your body and causes the air embolisms to shrink in size more rapidly.
Prognosis: What Can I Expect?
Prognosis varies quite a bit with air embolisms.
Some peoples symptoms go away with prompt recognition and treatment.
But a lot depends on the bang out of air embolisms that you have.
In recent years, the use of hyperbaric oxygen has improved the prognosis for many people.
And some people do die from them.
It needs to be diagnosed and treated immediately, potentially with hyperbaric oxygen.
Fortunately, its very rare and may not be worth worrying about ahead of time.
Chuang DY, Sundararajan S, Sundararajan VA, Feldman DI, Xiong W.Accidental air embolism.Stroke.
2019 Jul;50(7):e183-e186.
