Acute pulmonary edema following inflation of arterial tourniquet.

Arterial tourniquets are used as one of the methods for reducing blood loss and for allowing blood free surgical field. A 20-year-old, 45 kg healthy female with a sphere shaped pendunculated hemangioma in the popliteal fossa of her left lower limb was applied with arterial tourniquet after exsanguination. The procedure was performed under general anesthesia. Soon after exsanguination and tourniquet inflation, the patient developed pulmonary edema which subsided after deflating the tourniquet. The clinical evolution, treatment and pathophysiology of this complication are described.