Hyperbaric treatment of arterial CO2 embolism occuring after laparoscopic surgery: a case report

Arterial carbon dioxide (CO2) embolism is a serious and sometimes fatal iatrogenic medical condition encountered in surgery. A thirty-five year old Caucasian female developed a CO2 embolism during a laparoscopic appendectomy. After initial resuscitation and completion of the surgery, she was treated with hyperbaric oxygen (HBO2) to help reduce the size of large CO2 bubbles that had migrated into her left ventricle during surgery. The HBO2 protocol was 2.8 atmospheres for 90 minutes, which resolved the problem with no adverse effects.