Re: How do air bubbles in the blood cause injury?

Air bubbles in the blood stream cause a problem because of size.  If they 
could be broken up into microscopic size they would not be a problem.  

Large bubbles form a physical block to blood flow in the involved artery, 
just like a blood clot in a heart attack or a stroke. 

The air in the bubble does dissolve into the blood eventually, but it 
takes hours or days to do so and by then the damage is done.  The tissue 
supplied by the involved arteries starts to die because of no oxygen.