TY - JOUR
T1 - Arterial blood gases in SCUBA divers at depth
AU - Paganini, Matteo
AU - Zucchi, Lorenzo
AU - Giacon, Tommaso Antonio
AU - Martani, Luca
AU - Mrakic-Sposta, Simona
AU - Garetto, Giacomo
AU - McKnight, J. Chris
AU - Camporesi, Enrico M.
AU - Moon, Richard E.
AU - Bosco, Gerardo
N1 - Funding: The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This study was funded by the Office of Naval Research (Grant No. N00014-23-1-2757). Open Access funding provided by Università degli Studi di Padova | University of Padua, Open Science Committee.
PY - 2024/10/29
Y1 - 2024/10/29
N2 - Background: Current diving physiology postulates that SCUBA divers’ arterial blood gas (ABG) levels vary proportionally to environmental pressure, but, to date, ABGs have only been obtained during simulated dives. Also, recent evidence supports the use of the arterial/alveolar (a:A) partial pressures of oxygen (PO2) ratio to predict the arterial PO2 (PaO2) under hyperbaric conditions from measurements obtained at 1 atmosphere absolute (ATA). This work summarizes ABGs obtained in SCUBA divers in real underwater conditions and aims to validate the a:A ratio in predicting PaO2 in this subset of individuals at depth. Methods: The study was approved by the local ethics committee. After cannulating the radial artery of the non-dominant limb, ABGs were sampled at the surface before the dive (A), at depth (15 meters of freshwater (mfw) or 42 mfw) before (B) and after (C) pedaling on a submersed bicycle for 10 minutes, and back at surface (D). After calculating the surface alveolar PO2 for each subject, the a:A ratio was obtained and used to predict PaO2 at depth. A linear regression between measured and predicted PaO2 was reported, along with the goodness-of-fit F test. Results: Six subjects performed the dive at 15 mfw, and four others at 42 mfw. The PaO2 proportionally increased at both depths, remaining stable before and after pedaling. The a:A calculated from the baseline ABG obtained at rest, out of the water, adequately predicted the PaO2 at depth (R2 = 0.97, p
AB - Background: Current diving physiology postulates that SCUBA divers’ arterial blood gas (ABG) levels vary proportionally to environmental pressure, but, to date, ABGs have only been obtained during simulated dives. Also, recent evidence supports the use of the arterial/alveolar (a:A) partial pressures of oxygen (PO2) ratio to predict the arterial PO2 (PaO2) under hyperbaric conditions from measurements obtained at 1 atmosphere absolute (ATA). This work summarizes ABGs obtained in SCUBA divers in real underwater conditions and aims to validate the a:A ratio in predicting PaO2 in this subset of individuals at depth. Methods: The study was approved by the local ethics committee. After cannulating the radial artery of the non-dominant limb, ABGs were sampled at the surface before the dive (A), at depth (15 meters of freshwater (mfw) or 42 mfw) before (B) and after (C) pedaling on a submersed bicycle for 10 minutes, and back at surface (D). After calculating the surface alveolar PO2 for each subject, the a:A ratio was obtained and used to predict PaO2 at depth. A linear regression between measured and predicted PaO2 was reported, along with the goodness-of-fit F test. Results: Six subjects performed the dive at 15 mfw, and four others at 42 mfw. The PaO2 proportionally increased at both depths, remaining stable before and after pedaling. The a:A calculated from the baseline ABG obtained at rest, out of the water, adequately predicted the PaO2 at depth (R2 = 0.97, p
KW - Diving physiology
KW - Oxygen
KW - Arterial blood gas
KW - Environmental physiology
KW - SCUBA diving
U2 - 10.3389/fmars.2024.1445692
DO - 10.3389/fmars.2024.1445692
M3 - Article
SN - 2296-7745
VL - 11
JO - Frontiers in Marine Science
JF - Frontiers in Marine Science
ER -