Acute Coronary Artery Air-Embolism after Percutaneous Lung Biopsy

Abstract

A 62-year-old female underwent a Computed Tomography (CT)-guided percutaneous lung biopsy for a suspicious right upper lobe nodule. After biopsy, the patient was repositioned from prone to supine position on the CT table and presented immediately with acute thoracic pain radiating to the jaws, general discomfort and nausea. Supportive care (high flow oxygen therapy) was administered and a control chest CT depicted air emboli in the aortic bulb (Figure 1a), in the right coronary artery (Figures 2a-b) and in the right m arginal artery (Figure 3a-3b). Oxygen therapy was continued and antalgic treatment was introduced. The patient was admitted to the Coronary Care Unit for close surveillance and immobilization. No myocardial ischemia was seen on echocardiography, neither cardiac enzyme elevation nor electrocardiographic modifications were seen.

Air embolism as a rare complication of lung biopsy: A case report

“…Several cases described air embolism after lung biopsy [5 , [12] , [13] , [14] , [15] , [16] , [17] , [18] , [19] , [20] , [21] , [22] , [23] , [24] , [25] , [26] , [27] ]. However, most of these studies included solid lung lesions with no air component.…”