Cause of air emboli during hysteroscopic surgery / 中华麻醉学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the cause of air emboli during hysteroscopic surgery.Methods Thirty-five ASA Ⅰ or Ⅱ patients,aged 22-59 yr,with a body mass index of 18-25 kg/m2,undergoing hysteroscopic surgery under spinal anesthesia,were involved in this study.Electrocision and electric coagulation were performed using the electrotome during surgery.Air emboli in the common iliac vein,superior vena cava,inferior vena cava and heart were continuously monitored using color Doppler ultrasonic imaging.The patients were divided into 2 groups according to the occurrence of the air embolusair embolus group and no air embolus group.The possible factors which induced air emboli were analyzed.Results Air emboli developed in 15 patients at ( 19 ±10) min after perfusion with 5％ glucose injection and the incidence was 43％.A small number of air emboli (the numberof bubble ＜ 10/s) occurred in 4 cases.A moderate number of air emboli (10/s≤ the number of bubble≤20/s) occurred in 7 cases.A large number of air emboli (the number of bubble ＞ 20/s) occurred in 4 cases.Compared with no air embolus group,the using time of electrotome was significantly prolonged in air embolus group ( P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion The cause of air emboli during hysteroscopic surgery may be related to the using time of electrotome.