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CASE REPORT article

Front. Oncol.
Sec. Cancer Imaging and Image-directed Interventions
Volume 14 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2024.1476346

Case report: Systemic Air Embolism after Percutaneous Microwave Ablation of an Unresectable Metastatic Lung Lesion

Provisionally accepted
Wei Tang Wei Tang 1Fandong Zhu Fandong Zhu 1Jianfeng Yang Jianfeng Yang 1Ting Wang Ting Wang 1Zhenhua Zhao Zhenhua Zhao 2Jiangfeng Feng Jiangfeng Feng 1*
  • 1 Shaoxing People's Hospital, Shaoxing, China
  • 2 Shaoxing City Women and Children Hospital, Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Systemic air embolism, though rare, poses a significant risk as a complication of CT-guided lung lesion ablation. This condition often arises from the formation of a transient bronchovascular fistula, which can occur when a needle punctures the lung or accidentally breaches a pulmonary vein. In this report, we present a case involving acute cerebral infarction resulting from retrograde venous embolism linked to a fistula between the pleural cavity and pulmonary artery after pulmonary ablation. The patient demonstrated clear signs and symptoms but ultimately recovered fully and was discharged without lasting effects.

    Keywords: Systemic air embolism, Microwave ablation, Metastatic lung lesions, case report, Lung biopsy

    Received: 05 Aug 2024; Accepted: 05 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Tang, Zhu, Yang, Wang, Zhao and Feng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Jiangfeng Feng, Shaoxing People's Hospital, Shaoxing, China

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