Pulmonary edema after multiple venous air emboli

Abstract

Acute pulmonary edema following venous air embolism is not very common, but well documented. This complication of venous air emboli is reported to occur rapidly or several hours later, but usually only after multiple episodes. We report an 18 year - old male patient who developed postoperative pulmonary edema following multiple episodes of venous air emboli while in the sitting position for correction of Arnold-Chiari malformation.