By its nature, vaporization of atherosclerotic plaques by laser irradiation or spark erosion may produce a substantial amount of gas. To evaluate the effect of gas embolism possibly caused by vaporization techniques, air bubbles with diameters of 75, 150, or 300 microns, each in a volume of 2 microliters/kg, were selectively injected subproximal in the left anterior descending coronary artery of seven anesthetized pigs (28 +/- 3 kg). Systemic hemodynamics such as heart rate, left ventricular pressure and its peak positive first derivative, and mean arterial pressure did not change after air injection, whereas there was a minor change in peak negative first derivative of left ventricular pressure. After injection of air bubbles there was a maximal relative reduction of systolic segment shortening (SS) in the myocardium supplied by the left anterior descending coronary artery of 27, 45, and 58% for 75-, 150-, and 300-microns bubbles, respectively, and a relative increase of postsystolic SS (PSS) of 148, 200, and 257% for 75-, 150-, and 300-microns bubbles, respectively. Recovery of SS and PSS started after 2 min and was completed after 10 min. A difference in SS and PSS changes between different bubble size injections could be demonstrated. From this study it is clear that depression of regional myocardial function after injection of air bubbles could pass unnoticed on the basis of global hemodynamic measurements.