Semin intervent Radiol 2025; 42(01): 114-118
DOI: 10.1055/s-0045-1806739

Sandeep Sharma

1   Division of Interventional Radiology, Department of Radiology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio

,

Jacob Byers

1   Division of Interventional Radiology, Department of Radiology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio

,

Reyhaneh S. Rahimi

1   Division of Interventional Radiology, Department of Radiology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio

,

Charles E. Ray

2   Division of Interventional Radiology, Department of Radiology, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois

,

Bashar Nahab

1   Division of Interventional Radiology, Department of Radiology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio

,

Ali Kord

1   Division of Interventional Radiology, Department of Radiology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio

› Author Affiliations › Further InformationAlso available at   Buy Article Permissions and Reprints

Percutaneous lung biopsy plays a crucial role in the sampling and diagnosing of lung lesions, offering high accuracy.[1] Percutaneous lung biopsy is associated with several complications—most commonly pneumothorax, lung parenchymal hemorrhage, and hemoptysis.[1] [2] [3] Rare complications include tumor seeding along the biopsy track and air embolism.[2] [4] Systemic air embolism after lung biopsy is rare and reported to be as low as 0.08%,[1] [2] but often only symptomatic cases are reported. The rate can approach 4% when including the asymptomatic cases found incidentally on postprocedural imaging.[2] Despite its rarity, systemic air embolism after lung biopsy poses devastating outcomes due to the potential for emboli to enter cerebral or coronary circulation, leading to fatality.[2] [5] [6] This article describes a case of coronary and cerebral air embolism during an image-guided pulmonary nodule biopsy. A detailed review of imaging findings and emergent treatment interventions is provided.

Article published online:
07 May 2025

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