[Incidence of air embolism in implantation of hip prostheses].

The prosthetic supply of the hip-joint may be accompanied by the problem of venous air embolism. By including 53 orthopaedic patients having undergone total hip replacement, the influence of bone-cement as well as of the different anaesthetic techniques on the frequency of embolic phenomenons was investigated. Embolism was determined as an abrupt decrease (greater than 5 mmHg) in the end-tidal pCO2. Venous embolism often occurred with cemented endoprostheses in contrast to non-cement implantations. Patients with general anaesthesia presented more often with venous air embolism than patients with epidural anaesthesia. This might be explained by an expanding effect of nitrous oxide on air bubbles entering the vascular bed under the implantation of the shaft-prostheses. Our data stress the importance of continuous monitoring of end-tidal pCO2 for early discovery of lung embolism.