[Can vacuum aspiration cause air embolism?].

According to the literature data lethal air embolie occured several times at interruptions of pregnancy carried out by vacuum-aspiration. The question was investigated whether complications were brought about by the method itself or were the fatal consequencies of some technical faults. At the vacuum aspiration the triggering mechanism for air-embolie is absent. On the basis of the reports being evaluable at our disposal we found that more than the half of the lethal air-embolies were caused by medical technical errors which could have been avoided with more precaution. In the other cases the medical technical errors could not be proved but adequate explanations for the lethal cases are missing. Carrying out the operations with thoroughful care and taking into consideration more strictly all precautionary measures there is no reason for fearing of lethal air-embolie.