‘Bubbles in the Brain’: Retrograde Venous Air Embolism in the Cavernous Sinus

A 27-year-old woman extracted her right subclavian venous catheter, sat up and experienced a convulsive syncope. Cerebral CT 30 min later showed transient air embolism in both cavernous sinuses. Retrograde venous cerebral air embolism is a rare but potentially fatal complication of central venous catheters. Fig. 1. a , b Cerebral CT revealed bilateral air embolism in the cavernous sinus. c Air bubbles were completely reabsorbed 5 h later. Dr. Philipp Zickler Department of Neurology, Heinrich Heine University Dusseldorf Moorenstrasse 5 DE–40225 Dusseldorf (Germany) Tel. +49 211 81 17880, Fax +49 211 81 18469 E-Mail philipp.zickler@uni-duesseldorf.de a b c