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Asked by: Jese Hilario
sports scuba divingHow do you treat an air embolism?
Last Updated: 31st March, 2020
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Correspondingly, what should you do if air embolism is suspected?
Immediately place the patient in the left lateral decubitus (Durant maneuver) and Trendelenburg position. This helps to prevent air from traveling through the right side of the heart into the pulmonary arteries, leading to right ventricular outflow obstruction (air lock).
Furthermore, how do you detect an air embolism? Diagnosis of air embolism can often be missed when dyspnea, continuous coughing, chest pain, and a sense of “impending doom” make up the chief clinical symptoms. Corresponding clinical signs include cyanosis, hypoxia, hypercapnia, hypotension, tachypnea, wheezing, bronchospasm, tachycardia, or bradycardia [9].
Similarly, is an air embolism immediate?
It is the entrainment of air or gas from operative field or other communications into the venous or arterial vasculature. Large bolus of air can lead to right ventricular air lock and immediate fatality. In up to 35% patient, the foramen ovale is patent which can cause paradoxical arterial air embolism.
How quickly does an air embolism happen?
You may not have these symptoms immediately. They can develop within 10 to 20 minutes or sometimes even longer after surfacing. Don't ignore these symptoms – get medical help straight away.