Open AccessSignificant air embolism: A possibility even with collapsible intravenous fluid containers when used with rapid infuser system
Author(s) -
Deepanjali Pant,
Krishan Kumar Narani,
Jayashree Sood
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
indian journal of anaesthesia/indian journal of anaesthesia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.645
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 0976-2817
pISSN - 0019-5049
DOI - 10.4103/0019-5049.60498
Subject(s) - medicine , anesthesia , perioperative , saline , surgery , intravenous fluid , air embolism , catheter , pulmonary embolism , resuscitation , complication
Significant venous air embolism may develop acutely during the perioperative period due to a number of causes such as during head and neck surgery, spinal surgery, improper central venous and haemodialysis catheter handling, etc. The current trend of using self collapsible intravenous (IV) infusion bags instead of the conventional glass or plastic bottles has several advantages, one of thaem being protection against air embolism. We present a 56-year-old man undergoing kidney transplantation, who developed a near fatal venous air embolism during volume resuscitation with normal saline in collapsible IV bags used with rapid infuser system. To our knowledge, this problem with collapsible infusion bags has not been reported earlier.