Effects of physical properties of the breathing gas on decompression-sickness bubbles

Abstract

To explore the relative dangers of different inert gases, we developed mathematical relationships concerned with bubble growth, using equations that separate gas properties from other variables. Predictions for saturation exposures were as follows. 1) Peak volume of a bubble is proportional to solubility in tissue when bubble density is high and to the 3/2 power of the ratio of the permeation coefficient to the partition coefficient when density is low. 2) Bubble duration is inversely proportional to the partition coefficient for the inert gas. 3). Sizes and durations of bubbles for one inert gas relative to another depend on whether the tissue is aqueous or lipid but are independent of the magnitude of the decompression and tissue half time. 4). He should give smaller bubbles than N2, except in aqueous tissue with low bubble density; our prediction correlates qualitatively with relative dangers observed with animals but seems to overestimate the safety afforded by He. Numerical simulations illustrate how nonsaturation dives are less predictable because more variables are involved.