TY  - JOUR
T1  - Fatal Venous Air Embolism During Shoulder ArthroscopyA Case Report
AU  - Zmistowski, Benjamin
AU  - Austin, Luke
AU  - Ciccotti, Michael
AU  - Ricchetti, Eric
AU  - Williams, Jr. ,Gerald
Y1  - 2010/09/01
N1  - 10.2106/JBJS.I.01704
JO  - The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery
SP  - 2125
EP  - 2127
VL  - 92
IS  - 11
N2  - 
Venous air embolism is a potential surgical complication when a negative pressure gradient exists between the surgical site and the right atrium of the heart. It occurs more commonly when the operative site is over the heart, the pressure of gas in the body cavity exceeds that of the venous sinusoids (15 to 30 mm Hg), air rather than carbon dioxide is injected, or the venous sinusoids of bone marrow are exposed1,2. Shoulder arthroscopy satisfies many of these criteria: the beach-chair and lateral decubitus positions place the surgical site over the right atrium, the standard settings for arthroscopic pumps are at pressures of >30 mm Hg, air bubbles are often observed entering the joint, and venous sinusoids are exposed anytime that osseous work (i.e., distal clavicular excision, acromioplasty, or fracture repair) is performed. Two case reports of fatal venous air embolism following knee arthroscopy3,4 with intentional air insufflation have appeared in the literature, but we are not aware of any reported case following liquid-only arthroscopy.

SN  - 0021-9355
M3  - doi: 10.2106/JBJS.I.01704
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.2106/JBJS.I.01704
ER  -