Comprehensive account of decompression sickness and arterial gas embolism

[wlecyt40]

Outstanding!!! Can't wait to read. My wife, the critical care nurse will devour this!!

 

[Reefy]

Fantastic read- thank you so much for sharing.

 

[Jonnyola87]

This is outstanding. Thank you for posting.

 

[nadwidny]

Awesome!

Hate to be "that" guy but early on in page 1, "bed which uaually prevents bubbles from reaching the arterial circulation."

EDIT: I know you didn't ask but figured I'd just toss it your way in the event you wanted to know.

A typo queen. Obviously you don't hate to be that guy. You love to be that guy.

 

[heftysmurf]

A typo queen. Obviously you don't hate to be that guy. You love to be that guy.

Nah -- it's a scientific journal entry. I was looking out for Doc but you can think that.

 

[Pedroo]

Very interesting, thx

 

[Kendall Raine]

Dr. Mitchell;

Can you expand on "...individual variability in response to the presence of VGE, which could be genetically based." And "Work continues to identify the key DCS-resistant genotypes or phenotypes." Perhaps propensity among individual divers to produce microparticles in response to VGE. From p.5.

The observations appear to be based on rat models, but it would be very interesting, particularly to those doing increasingly provocative profiles, to determine individual vulnerability to high VGE levels.

Thank you

 

[Dr Simon Mitchell]

Dr. Mitchell;

Can you expand on "...individual variability in response to the presence of VGE, which could be genetically based." And "Work continues to identify the key DCS-resistant genotypes or phenotypes." Perhaps propensity among individual divers to produce microparticles in response to VGE. From p.5.

The observations appear to be based on rat models, but it would be very interesting, particularly to those doing increasingly provocative profiles, to determine individual vulnerability to high VGE levels.

Thank you

Hi Kendall,

I characterized the potential basis for resistance as a function of response to presence of VGE but to be honest it could also be variability in the tendency to form them too. Either way, there is an evolving literature suggesting that genetic factors, yet to be identified, may be influential. This work has primarily come from a group of French colleagues. You can see the start of it here where they showed it was possible to breed a strain of relatively DCS-resistant rats over several selected generations. Subsequently they have focused on trying to identify what features in those animals seem important - both in terms of genetic make-up ('genotypes') and any identifiable expressed characteristics that result (e.g., high or low blood pressure) ('phenotypes'). You can see examples of that here and here.

Anything physiological or pathophysiological characteristic that potentially increases risk of DCS is on the table; so yes, your suggestion might be valid, but we are a long way from being sure about any of it. And yes, the ultimate goal would be to try to identify the genetically linked physiological characteristics of DCS resistant rats, and then to evaluate whether something similar is important in humans so that vulnerable or resistant individuals could be identified. This is still all in its infancy, but it is an exciting line of work.

Simon M

 

[Kendall Raine]

Thank you Dr. Mitchell.