CASE REPORT article
Front. Surg.
Sec. Surgical Oncology
A rare successful case of treating cerebral air embolism following the removal of a central venous catheter without intracardiac structural abnormalities
Provisionally accepted
- The Second Department of Thoracic Surgery,Hunan Cancer Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China., Changsha, China
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Background: Cerebral air embolism following the removal of a central venous catheter is a rare and often fatal complication, resulting in severe neurological deficits and potentially death. Case presentation: We report a unique case involving a 57-year-old male, where the postoperative removal of a central venous catheter resulted in cerebral air embolism in a patient with esophageal cancer who had no intracardiac structural abnormalities. Following treatment that included low-temperature brain protection and the reduction of cerebral edema, a favorable prognosis was achieved. Conclusions: This case underscores the efficacy of prompt low-temperature brain protection in managing cerebral air embolism. Additionally, it examines potential mechanisms underlying cerebral air embolism in the absence of intracardiac structural abnormalities.
Keywords: case report, esophageal cancer, Cerebral air embolism, Central venous catheter, air embolism
Received: 26 Jul 2025; Accepted: 10 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Song, Wang and Wu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Mingzhe Song, songmingzhe@hnca.org.cn
Jie Wu, wujie@hnca.org.cn
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