Diving and Tumors

[Chip]

A few weeks after diving 22 times within one week on EAN32 to depths that usually resulted in my exposure to O2 concentrations of up to 1.4 ATA to 1.6 ATA, I developed an intranasal papilloma, which I had removed surgically. I am wondering if there is a relationship between exposure to high concentrations of O2 and the development of neoplasms of the respiratory tract. There is some evidence that high concentrations of vitamins may allow cancer to grow preferencially over neighboring healthy tissues. There is some evidence that suggests that O2 also grows cancer pereferentially. I'm wondering it the same might be true for high concentrations of oxygen and benign tumors in the respiratory tract such as the one I had removed, or for that matter, malignant tumors as well.

 

[John Reinertson]

The answer to this question is the same as to many good questions in this board.. there is not a lot of real good research.

There is some fair research and experience in terms of surveillance of Navy and commercial divers over the years, and there have been no significant increases of tumors in them.
Part of the difficulty lies in the fact that commercial and Navy divers may have other lifestyle issues, chemical exposures in the line of work, or other factors that make it hard to come up with a precisely matched "control group" to compare to.

The surveillance that has been done hasn't shown anything as a clear and consistent finding.

Be careful with some of the medical reports quoted for and against oxygen, vitamins, etc.

There is a huge difference between an observed correlation in a study and a proven cause and effect, and a lot of published correlations get interpreted as fact.

An example of a spurious correlation might be that 1 percent of Iowans taking 12 hour plane trips get malaria, and none of the Iowans taking 12 hour bus trips did, thereby proving that airline travel causes malaria in Iowans.

This is an absurd example, but similar interpretations cause needless anxiety and false conclusions daily.

you di 22 dives in a week recently?.. I'm jealous!

Keep blowing bubbles
John

 

[scubadoc]

Hi Chip;

Hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) has been shown to increase tumor radiosensitivity.
Several reports indicate that it also increases sensitivity to alkylating agents, but other reports suggest that it may speed angiogenesis and tumor growth. So all reports are not in yet on the subject.

As to causing your papilloma - it probably doesn't happen, as we know the cause is the wart virus (yes, the same as warts on your skin). About 10-15% of papillomas are malignant. Bleeding is frequent.

Another intranasal tumor more frequently seen is the polyp, rarely malignant and caused by allergies. Bleeding is infreguent.

Both entities can cause serious barotrauma of the ears and sinuses.

Best regards:

scubadoc