Abstract
Summary
1. In barbitalized rabbits subjected to operations on the spinal column, cord and skull, air embolism is not a negligible danger; 14 out of 37 rabbits showed air bubbles in the pulmonary artery. Acute death after such operations in the rabbit must not be diagnosed as “vascular shock,” tacitly implying a nervous component, until a careful autopsy has excluded air embolism.
2. Air bubbles were observed entering and coursing through exposed sections of the diploic veins of the parietal bone during inspiration.
3. Absence of air bubbles in the right heart and pulmonary artery does not exclude air embolism for the air may have been absorbed. The diagnosis of air embolism may still be made if fibrin is found in the heart. Fibrin formation in the heart, especially the right ventricle, was seen 6, possibly 7, times when no air bubbles were detectable anywhere. Occasionally a slight amount of fibrin may also be detected in the left ventricle. Here apparently some air bubbles passed through the pulmonary circuit and entered the left ventricle. Fibrin may occur only in the left ventricle; this was seen once when artificial respiration rupitured lung aveoli and air entered the left heart and arterial system only.
4. No definite evidence of pulmonary infarction was seen in the lungs on macroscopic and microscopic examination. It seems probable that pulmonary infarction would have occurred had some of the animals been allowed to survive for longer periods of time.
5. Pulmonary edema was slight in the majority of our experiments.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.