Background: Due to its various advantages, laparoscopic surgery is preferred over laparotomy in patients who require hepatic resection. Carbon dioxide embolism—which occurs approximately ten times more often in laparoscopic hepatectomy than in general laparoscopic surgery—presents with insignificant symptoms and may be overlooked. Case: A 70-year-old male with hepatic cell carcinoma underwent laparoscopic hepatectomy. Though his vital signs were stable during the initiation of surgery, they became unstable during the procedure. The surgeon detected portal vein rupture, and transesophageal echocardiography was subsequently performed. A large amount of gas in the heart chamber and paradoxical embolism through a patent foramen ovale due to a right-to-left shunt were observed. We treated the symptoms, and the surgery was completed without any further issues. Conclusions: Active use of transesophageal echocardiography to identify and monitor heart functions during a suspected carbon dioxide embolism can significantly reduce morbidity and mortality associated with that embolism.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.