Abstract:
Uncooperative but alert on arrival, a 21-year-old suicidal man was found suddenly unconscious with agonal respirations 2 h into his Emergency Department evaluation. Initially admitted for ingesting multiple pills and self-inflicting a deep wrist laceration, the patient now had a Glasgow Coma Scale score of 3, a dense left-sided hemiplegia, and an electrocardiogram suggestive of acute myocardial infarction. This constellation of physical findings, together with an echocardiogram revealing bi-ventricular gas artifact, led to a diagnosis of coronary and cerebral air emboli. The patient was urgently resuscitated and then underwent hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Subsequent examination confirmed a full recovery. This article details this unprecedented case, as well as clinically relevant aspects of air embolism.
Doostan, Steffenson, Snoey, , , , , , (2003). Cerebral and coronary air embolism: an intradepartmental suicide attempt. The Journal of emergency medicine, 2003 Jul;25(1):29-34. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12865105