Air embolism
An air embolism, or more generally gas embolism, is a medical condition caused by gas bubbles that enter in the bloodstream. Although gas embolisms are quite rare, they can be fatal especially when the bubbles enter the arterial bloodstream, which may quickly transport the bubbles to the brain.
The gas bubble can be introduced into the bloodstream as a result of several types of accident: injecting air using a syringe and needle, as a result of traumatic injury or barotrauma especially to the lungs, as a result of an industrial injury when using compressed air hoses near to unprotected cuts in the skin, and a few rare cases involving sexual intercourse during late pregnancy.
Symptoms
Symptoms of an air embolism depend on where the bubbles lodge. They range from skin rashes, joint pain, visual disturbances, balance disturbances, breathing difficulties, extreme fatigue/lack of strength, numbness, paralysis, unconsciousness and death. If the embolism occurs in the coronary arteries of the heart, a heart attack will occur. If it lodges in the lungs, a pulmonary embolism will occur, resulting in shortness of breath and chest pain.
Avoidance in medicine
One can reduce the risk of air embolism by avoiding unnecessary use of syringes and taking all steps to protect the physical body, noting that it is important that one never injects an air filled syringe directly into the bloodstream. However, generally speaking, this will neither suddenly stop the heart nor cause instant death, contrary to various novels in which this is used as a method of murder. Murder by air injection may have happened occasionally, however.
Gas embolism in diving
Gas embolism (as opposed to an air embolism), is one of the diving disorders SCUBA divers sometimes suffer when they receive pressure damage to their lungs following a rapid ascent. It's named "gas" because the diver may be using a diving, breathing gas other than air. The gas bubbles can impede the flow of oxygen-rich blood to the brain and vital organs. They can also cause clots to form in blood vessels.
Gas embolism and decompression sickness (DCS) are very difficult to distinguish, as they have very similar symptoms. The treatment for both is the same, because they are both the result of gas bubbles in the body. In a diving context, the two are often called decompression illness (DCI).
Treatment
Recompression is the only lasting treatment of an air embolism. Normally this is carried out in a recompression chamber.
Oxygen first aid treatment is useful for suspected gas embolism casualties or divers who have made fast ascents or missed decompression stops. Most fully closed-circuit rebreathers can deliver sustained, high concentrations of oxygen-rich breathing gas and could be used as an alternative to pure, open circuit oxygen equipment.
