What Researchers Did
Doctors used brain imaging to study a fatal case of gas bubbles blocking blood flow in the brain.
What They Found
This case report describes a patient with fatal cerebral gas embolism whose brain injury was studied using CT, MRI, and advanced imaging techniques (diffusion tensor imaging and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging). The gas embolism was linked to a lung tumor that had grown into the chest cavity, which may have let gas travel from the lung into the brain's arteries. A second MRI scan performed 8 days after the initial event showed two types of brain injury: swelling in the white matter caused by fluid leaking from blood vessels, and swelling in the gray matter caused by damage to brain cells themselves.
Canadian Relevance
No direct Canadian connection identified.
Study Limitations
This is a single fatal case report, so its imaging findings cannot be generalized to how other patients with cerebral gas embolism might be diagnosed or fare.