Cardiovascular effects of cerebral air embolism

This study was conducted to determine whether air distributed to the cerebral circulation alone could cause acute cardiovascular dysfunction and thus be a potential mechanism for sudden death following arterial air embolism. Cardiovascular measurements were made in anesthetized, ventilated cats during infusion of air into a vertebral artery. Cerebral air embolism was found to induce an acute hypertensive response accompanied by severe cardiac arrhythmias. Interruption of the autonomic nervous system was found to abolish the cardiac arrhythmias but not to affect significantly the acute hypertensive response following cerebral air embolism. These results suggest that potentially lethal cardiac arrhythmias can occur from air distributed solely to the cerebral circulation, and that these arrhythmias are mediated by the autonomic nervous system. The results also indicate that acute hypertension can occur from cerebral air embolism, but that this response is not solely mediated by the autonomic nervous system.