Cerebral air embolism as a complication of computed tomography-guided marking of the lung: depiction of air inflow route from a pulmonary vein to the left atrium.

Air embolism in the arterial system is a very rare but potentially fatal complication of percutaneous transthoracic needle biopsy or marking. We report a case of a patient with interstitial pneumonia associated with Sjögren syndrome, who presented with systemic arterial air embolism as a complication of computed tomography-guided marking of the lung. The air inflow route was depicted clearly on computed tomography from the peripheral pulmonary vein that crossed the needle pathway to the left atrium.