| Abstract: | Interstitial emphysema and pulmonic hemorrhage alone are not the causes of pulmonic air embolism. The conditions making the entrance of air from the lungs to the vessels of pulmonary circulation are obviously present only if the expiration pressure is suddenly strongly elevated. Based on this point of view, investigations were performed in autopsy cases--falls from a height, being run over, a gunshot in the abdomen. We have succeeded in proving the entrance of air into capillaries and branches of the pulmonary vein. The precipitation of thrombocytes at the margin of large air bubbles in pulmonary veins shows the finding of air in the vessels as a vital or supravital reaction. |
