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The Dive Lab Blog

Dive deeper into scuba diving research with The Dive Lab, the blog dedicated to dive safety research. For the last 40 years, DAN has been the authority on dive safety, monitoring trends in diving practices and health safety issues in recreational diving, studying causes, risk factors and mechanisms of injuries and diseases as well as injury prevention and evidence-based treatment methods.

As a dive professional, The Dive Lab is an ideal resource to stay up-to-date on current dive and health-related studies and engage in discussions of critical dive safety topics.

See all Dive Lab Blog posts here

Elite Breath-Hold Divers and Short Term Memory

The superior performance of elite breath-hold athletes could be attributed to their inherited biophysical characteristics, and some metabolic enhancement induced by training. However, they could be susceptible to short-term memory impairment.

Getting Closer to a Complete Understanding of Decompression Sickness

While we know that there is an association between post-decompression occurrences of gas bubbles in body tissues and decompression sickness (DCS), we still do not know where the bubbles originate from, why they do not occur in all divers on the same dive, and how they lead to DCS.

Identifying Swimming Induced Pulmonary Edema

Swimming induced pulmonary edema (SIPE) may occur in healthy subjects during or immediately after swimming and exercise. If not recognized, symptoms which are typically initially mild, may quickly worsen and become life threatening.

Venous Gas Bubbles in Breath-Hold Divers

Venous gas bubbles in breath-hold divers remains a focus of researchers. Data from bubbles detected in divers will be used to better understand and correct decompression algorithms.

What’s Left to Learn About Bubbles?

New technologies may help us to learn more about post-decompression bubbles dynamics and get closer to the personalized approach in prevention of decompression sickness (DCS).

Outcomes of Decompression Illness

While it is generally accepted that sooner recompression is associated with better outcomes, the urgency of treatment may not be same for all cases.

What is the Common Risk Faced by Recreation, Technical and Breath-Hold Divers

Immersion pulmonary edema (IPE) may be more common than previously reported. Several studies analyzed different kinds of diving and the prevalence of IPE.

New Decompression Model Based on Occurrence of Gas Bubbles in Small Arteries

The current thought is that gas bubbles originate on the venous side and pass to the arterial side either through intra-cardiac (PFO) or intra-pulmonary shunt. A group of scientists proposed a third mechanism.

Repeated DCS and the Efficacy of Counseling

A study on Belgian decompression sickness (DCS) cases looked at patent foramen novale (PFO) presence, patency of present PFOs, and personality traits in divers who suffered cerebral DCS one or more times.

Medicating Against DCS: Using Rosiglitazone to Prevent DCS-Related Liver Injury

Studies describing gas in the portal veins of animals has enabled researchers to develop a model that predictably reproduces portal vein embolization. The decompression stress in the model is severe enough to cause many bubbles all over the body, including the portal vein and liver tissue.

Does Diving Damage the Brain?

Brain injuries in divers may be more prevalent than previously thought and could potentially occur without a manifestation of acute decompression illness. Read more about this study and its findings.

Breath-Hold Diving, Circulating Gas Bubbles and Neurological Symptoms

The findings of study authors proves the hypothesis that breath-hold diving may generate venous gas bubbles. The true relationship of VGE and post-dive neurological symptoms is not known.