This photograph of a tissue section taken at autopsy revealed numerous gaseous microemboli (GME) within the capillary system of the cerebral cortex. The patient had undergone heart surgery using CPB, but did not die of embolism. This was an incidental finding. The emboli obstructed many capillaries which reduced blood flow to brain tissue. The GME were still intact several hours after death, implying that their composition was an insoluble gas, probably nitrogen. If the emboli had been primarily oxygen, the bubbles would have been quickly absorbed by the surrounding hypoxic tissues.
Perfusion Theory is an educational platform for the Oxygen Pressure Field Theory (OPFT). August Krogh’s theoretical concept of the oxygen pressure field is explained and then applied to clinical applications in perfusion practice.