Wiktionary
n. (context pathology English) condition caused by bubbles of gas in a vascular system
WordNet
n. obstruction of the circulatory system caused by an air bubble as, e.g., accidentally during surgery or hypodermic injection or as a complication from scuba diving [syn: aeroembolism, gas embolism]
pain resulting from rapid change in pressure [syn: decompression sickness, aeroembolism, gas embolism, caisson disease, bends]
Wikipedia
An air embolism, also known as a gas embolism, is an embolism or blood vessel blockage caused by one or more bubbles of air or gas in the circulatory system. Air embolisms may also occur in the xylem of vascular plants, especially when suffering from water stress.
Divers can suffer from arterial gas embolisms. Venous gas embolisms usually get blocked by the lungs and so rarely cause a problem.
Usage examples of "air embolism".
If the needle goes a little too far, penetrates the lung, and if an air bubble then happens to be forced into a blood vessel and manages to travel all the way back to the heart without being absorbed, it is possible though extremely unlikely to get a sort of vapor lock in the valves of your heart-air embolism, the doctors call it.
If the needle goes a little too far, penetrates the lung, and if an air bubble then happens to be forced into a blood vessel and manages to travel all the way back to the heart without being absorbed, it is possible though extremely unlikely to get a sort of vapor lock in the valves of your heart - air embolism, the doctors call it.
There's no sense in any of us getting an air embolism after coming this far.
You could end up with an air embolism in your bloodstream that could conceivably kill you.
He swam upward, using strong, even strokes with hands and feet, exhaling in tiny spurts so the expanding gases in his lungs would not rupture the capillaries and force bubbles directly into his bloodstream, causing an air embolism.
That bad not been an experiment but an emergency rescue, and though the subject had been partly paralyzed by an air embolism, he had survived.