Vena cava air embolism after traumatic Foley catheter placement.

We report a case of traumatic Foley catheter placement and manipulation that resulted in a large, symptomatic, vena cava air embolism confirmed on computed tomography. To the best of our knowledge, our report represents the first case of a large, symptomatic, vena cava air embolism as a direct result of Foley catheter trauma. The included computed tomography images are unique in that they simultaneously show an improperly positioned Foley catheter and a large vena cava air embolism.