What is it about?
This review article is about the incidence of vascular air embolism -presence of air in the blood during the bronchoscopy procedures. This is a dreaded complication as it can be fatal if not recognized early.
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Why is it important?
It is important to be aware of this complication as its fatal if not recognized early. This complication can present with non-specific symptoms that unless one has very high index of clinical suspicion, very easy to miss the diagnosis.
Perspectives
I decided to write this review after I had a patient who was found to have a stroke after bronchoscopy. Pt did have non-specific symptoms of delayed recovered from anesthesia which we attributed to him receiving large dose of sedation. But once we could get a more detailed Neuro exam, he was found to have large stroke on the right side. Immediate Ct scan of the head showed air. There was a least a delay of more than 4 hours before we diagnosed him with stroke.
Dr Venkatkiran Kanchustambham
Saint Louis University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Vascular Air Embolism During Bronchoscopy Procedures- Incidence, Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, Management and Outcomes, Cureus, March 2017, Cureus, Inc.,
DOI: 10.7759/cureus.1087.
You can read the full text:
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