Breaking news: Alabama student drowns

[all4scuba05]

After reading the link in post#39, I am now confused. What killed him? Lung overexpansion or Arterial Gas Embolism?

 

[Rick Murchison]

After reading the link in post#39, I am now confused. What killed him? Lung overexpansion or Arterial Gas Embolism?

Yes.
AGE happens when lung overexpansion results in the introduction of gas bubbles into the arterial blood supply. When one of these bubbles reaches an artery that's small enough, it blocks bloodflow and the tissues downstream from the blockage die. If that's in the brain it causes a stroke and often a quick death. If it's in the cardiac arteries it's a "heart attack," etc...
The bubbles are great big ones compared to decompression sickness bubbles, and can affect large areas suddenly because they can cut off blood to big chunks of important organs - like the brain.
Rick

 

[diver 85]

Yes.
AGE happens when lung overexpansion results in the introduction of gas bubbles into the arterial blood supply. When one of these bubbles reaches an artery that's small enough, it blocks bloodflow and the tissues downstream from the blockage die. If that's in the brain it causes a stroke and often a quick death. If it's in the cardiac arteries it's a "heart attack," etc...
The bubbles are great big ones compared to decompression sickness bubbles, and can affect large areas suddenly because they can cut off blood to big chunks of important organs - like the brain.
Rick

In the eye, we call it an occlusion.......

 

[Daner]

I have to ask a totally uneducated question here as we are just beginning our training, can you not feel the pressure building in your chest? I would think it would take some doing to hold back the building pressure.

From what I was told in my OW class is that the little sacs in the lungs where the baratrauma occurs do not nerve endings and therefore you would not feel pain/pressure.