Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 13, 2026

Expired CO2 Measurement in Intubated or Spontaneously Breathing Patients from the Emergency Department
Published on: January 30, 2011
Carbon dioxide embolism following diagnostic hysteroscopy
S Sherlock1, W A Shearer, M Buist
1Department of Anaesthesia, Dandenong Hospital, Victoria.
Abstract:
A 50-year-old woman ASA 2 underwent carbon dioxide hysteroscopy under general anaesthesia. Monitoring showed a sudden and rapid fall in end-tidal carbon dioxide followed by oxygen desaturation. She became pulseless and cyanosed. Resuscitation with oxygen, intravenous adrenaline and head-down tilt restored her to haemodynamic stability. Hyperbaric therapy was also administered as air embolism could not be excluded.
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