Cerebral and Coronary Air Embolism during Lung Biopsy

Percutaneous lung biopsy plays a crucial role in the sampling and diagnosing of lung lesions, offering high accuracy.[1] Percutaneous lung biopsy is associated with several complications—most commonly pneumothorax, lung parenchymal hemorrhage, and hemoptysis.[1] [2] [3] Rare complications include tumor seeding along the biopsy track and air embolism.[2] [4] Systemic air embolism after lung biopsy is rare and reported to be as low as 0.08%,[1] [2] but often only symptomatic cases are reported. The rate can approach 4% when including the asymptomatic cases found incidentally on postprocedural imaging.[2] Despite its rarity, systemic air embolism after lung biopsy poses devastating outcomes due to the potential for emboli to enter cerebral or coronary circulation, leading to fatality.[2] [5] [6] This article describes a case of coronary and cerebral air embolism during an image-guided pulmonary nodule biopsy. A detailed review of imaging findings and emergent treatment interventions is provided.

Publication History

Article published online:
07 May 2025

• References

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