Author(s) :

Scott Van Hoy.

Volume/Issue :

Abstract :

It is widely accepted that the presence of venous gas emboli (VGE) is a necessary but insufficient condition for the development of decompression sickness (DCS) and that variability in physiological factors may contribute to DCS. With multiple organizations designing undersea saturation facilities that may see a substantial number of divers saturating, this creates an opportunity for the divers to volunteer as research participants to study the physiological factors influencing the inter-variability of VGE and DCS under identical dive profiles. Future large-scale saturation facilities will have an operations schedule that will make integrating VGE measurements more difficult than measurements during dedicated research dives. Alternative ultrasound technologies and methodologies should be explored to better integrate VGE measurements into busy operational environments and maintain continuous data collection. In this study, the O’DiveTM portable subclavian Doppler ultrasound was tested post-egress at Jules’ Undersea Lodge, an undersea habitat at a six-meter depth, for usability and operations integration of a pilot study measuring potential physiological factors contributing to VGE variability. Two research assistants measured the VGE of seven divers who saturated inside Jules’ Undersea Lodge and then rated the usability of O’DiveTM. The system received high usability scores and provided preliminary VGE data correlated with questionnaire data about lifestyle and physiological factors. The review and testing of O’DiveTM at a saturation facility showed that with additional bubble scoring validation, O’DiveTM could serve as a research tool for VGE measurements at future saturation facilities when operations prevent using gold standard VGE measurement methods.

No. of Downloads :

4