Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) in a neurocritical patient with an air embolisism and pneumocephalus.

The pneumocephalus is commonly encountered after neurosurgical procedures. The collections are usually small with benign behavior, and they respond to a conservative therapy. However, there is a high percentage of cases that may behave like a space-occupying lesion. A high index of suspicion is necessary to make the diagnosis and prompt treatment of these cases. Monitoring Near infra-red spectrometry (NIRS) monitoring could help to complete the diagnosis and treatment in these cases. A venous air embolism is a common complication in neurosurgical procedures that are performed in a sitting position, where this monitoring has also been shown to be useful. In the case presented, NIRS monitoring, along with clinical and analytical data, was used for the diagnosis of the two complications.