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Cerebral Air Embolism: a Case Report with an Emphasis of its Pathophysiology and MRI Findings

  • Kang, Se Ri (Department of Radiology, Wonkwang University Hospital) ;
  • Choi, See Sung (Department of Radiology, Wonkwang University Hospital) ;
  • Jeon, Se Jeong (Department of Radiology, Wonkwang University Hospital)
  • Received : 2018.11.15
  • Accepted : 2018.12.18
  • Published : 2019.03.29

Abstract

Cerebral air embolism (CAE) is a rare complication of various medical procedures. It manifests with symptoms similar to those of typical acute cerebral infarction, however the treatment is quite different. We present a case of arterial CAE that was associated with a disconnected central venous catheter and appeared as punctate dark signal intensities with aliasing artifacts on the susceptibility-weighted filtered phase magnetic resonance image. The susceptibility-weighted filtered phase image can be helpful for diagnosing CAE and the magnetic resonance imaging reflects the pathophysiology of CAE.

Keywords

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