Air in Straight Sinus after Closed Head Injury Surgery

Air in the intracranial vascular compartment is rare and only few case reports are published in the literature. Without surgery or open head trauma, the origin of air bubbles in the venous sinus is still debated. We report an admitted patient in the emergency room one hour after a severe closed head injury, and in whom, the post-surgical cranial CT scan demonstrated feature of air embolism along the straight sinus. Mechanisms explaining how air reaches the venous compartment is discussed.