Iatrogenic air embolism: pathoanatomy, thromboinflammation, endotheliopathy, and therapies
Recommended Citation
Marsh PL, Moore EE, Moore HB, Bunch CM, Aboukhaled M, Condon SM, 2nd, Al-Fadhl MD, Thomas SJ, Larson JR, Bower CW, Miller CB, Pearson ML, Twilling CL, Reser DW, Kim GS, Troyer BM, Yeager D, Thomas SG, Srikureja DP, Patel SS, Añón SL, Thomas AV, Miller JB, Van Ryn DE, Pamulapati SV, Zimmerman D, Wells B, Martin PL, Seder CW, Aversa JG, Greene RB, March RJ, Kwaan HC, Fulkerson DH, Vande Lune SA, Mollnes TE, Nielsen EW, Storm BS, and Walsh MM. Iatrogenic air embolism: pathoanatomy, thromboinflammation, endotheliopathy, and therapies. Front Immunol 2023; 14:1230049.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2023
Publication Title
Front Immunol
Abstract
Iatrogenic vascular air embolism is a relatively infrequent event but is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. These emboli can arise in many clinical settings such as neurosurgery, cardiac surgery, and liver transplantation, but more recently, endoscopy, hemodialysis, thoracentesis, tissue biopsy, angiography, and central and peripheral venous access and removal have overtaken surgery and trauma as significant causes of vascular air embolism. The true incidence may be greater since many of these air emboli are asymptomatic and frequently go undiagnosed or unreported. Due to the rarity of vascular air embolism and because of the many manifestations, diagnoses can be difficult and require immediate therapeutic intervention. An iatrogenic air embolism can result in both venous and arterial emboli whose anatomic locations dictate the clinical course. Most clinically significant iatrogenic air emboli are caused by arterial obstruction of small vessels because the pulmonary gas exchange filters the more frequent, smaller volume bubbles that gain access to the venous circulation. However, there is a subset of patients with venous air emboli caused by larger volumes of air who present with more protean manifestations. There have been significant gains in the understanding of the interactions of fluid dynamics, hemostasis, and inflammation caused by air emboli due to in vitro and in vivo studies on flow dynamics of bubbles in small vessels. Intensive research regarding the thromboinflammatory changes at the level of the endothelium has been described recently. The obstruction of vessels by air emboli causes immediate pathoanatomic and immunologic and thromboinflammatory responses at the level of the endothelium. In this review, we describe those immunologic and thromboinflammatory responses at the level of the endothelium as well as evaluate traditional and novel forms of therapy for this rare and often unrecognized clinical condition.
Medical Subject Headings
Humans; Embolism, Air; Thromboinflammation; Inflammation; Thrombosis; Iatrogenic Disease
PubMed ID
37795086
Volume
14
First Page
1230049
Last Page
1230049
