Diving and Heart murmur - please assist :)

[southern_seas]

I just went for a medical prior to doing Open Water PADI course. The doctor querried my heart murmor...and asked for the latest cardiologists report. From reading the forums this is a common thing to querry and there are many causes for a Heart Murmur. The doctor indicated that it was not excercise tollerence that was significant, rather that the turbulence in blood flow caused by the defect may encourage formation of bubbles in the blood.

Could any cardiologist or other medical profesioanl on the forum advise me.

Information:
I am very excercise tolerent, and have done lots of runing , swimming, weight lifting and other hard excercise without any symptoms.

The form of murmur I have is given below with the cardiologists findings.

1, Bicuspid aortic valve: ...an echo demonstrated "mild aortic regurgitation", a Cardiac MRI indicated "very milddegree of aortic regurgitation"

2 Mild aortic coarctation: ...cardiac MRI indicated no significant collateralisation.

The overal view of the cardiologist was of "only mild aortic regurgitation, normal Left venticular dimensions, and mild coarctation, and that I am compltely asymptomatic".

I would really appreciate any info - esp on the increased risk of bubble formation - as I have not heard of this before.

Cheers in advanve for your advice.

Fingers crossed.

 

[Dr Deco]

Hello southern seas :

Bubble Formation by Blood Turbulence

There are conditions, e.g., mechanical heart values that do promote the formation of microtubules in the arterial blood. While the diving population is not large, there does not seem to be any suggestion [from the field] that these bubbles result in an increased incidence of DCS in divers.

It is logical to believe that these turbulence-generated bubbles would be problematic for a diver, but this does not seem to be the case. They may collapse and dissolve quickly or simply pass through the capillaries and into the venous return.

Hopefully we might also get some other thoughts on this from several of the readers who are in clinical medicine.

Dr Deco :doctor:

 

[Dr. Doug Ebersole]

I'm a cardiologist with an interest in dive medicine. There is no problem with diving with mild aortic insufficiency and mild coarctation of the aorta. Did they mention the pressure gradient across the coarctation or any difference in the blood pressures in your arms versus your legs? I would guess that with good exercise tolerance that it would not be large. Additionally there is no clinical evidence of an increased risk of DCI with either of these conditons. If you have other information that you would rather not share on the forums, PM me. I'll gladly discuss the specifics with you.