Rare Complication of Eye Surgery Can Kill in a Minute

Ocular venous air embolism, a very rare complication of vitrectomy, is almost always fatal, yet some retina specialists have not heard of it, according to a Medscape report.

The complication can kill in less than a minute, said Robert Morris, MD, from Retina Specialists of Alabama and the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

“Any vitrectomy that uses air infusion may result in ocular venous air embolism if insidious slippage of an infusion cannula during vitrectomy causes suprachoroidal infusion of pressurized air,” he explained during the late-breaker session here at the American Society of Retina Specialists (ASRS) 2019 Annual Meeting.

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