Late Rather Than Early Onset Bubbles in the Pulmonary Artery During Altitude Exposures Correlate Better with the Onset of "Pain-Only" Decompression Illness

Abstract

Mechanistic insight about "pain-only" decompression illness (DCI) is limited given indirect information about venous gas emboli (VGE) detected in the pulmonary artery with Doppler ultrasound. However, we show that VGE first detected late in an altitude exposure are closely associated with subsequent symptom onset. Knowing that VGE occur late is an indication that a symptom will occur soon, but this is not a sufficient condition to guarantee that a symptom will occur