PROOF OF FATAL AIR-EMBOLISM

Venous air embolism is a rare cause of death. Entry of gas into the ci rculation is caused by trauma, mostly surgical or therapeutic, and som etimes resulting from criminal intervention. The detection of air embo lisms requires special precautions during autopsy. An aspirometer has to be used for the detection, measurement and storage of gas originati ng from the heart ventricles. The aspirometer has to be filled complet ely with distilled water containing two drops of Tween 80 to reduce th e surface tension of the water and to prevent adherence of small air b ubbles to the wall of the aspirometer. Subsequently the gas has to be analysed by gas chromatography. When the results correspond with the m ain criteria defined by Pierucci and Gherson [2] the diagnosis ''air e mbolism'' is justified. The technique for the detection of air embolis m is simple but requires a careful procedure which is described in det ail.