FACTORS IN EXPLOSIVE DECOMPRESSION INJURY

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Abstract
In over 300 individual tests, rats were placed in a circulating atmosphere of compressed air for varying time intervals (2-30 atm.; 10 sec.-30 min.), and subsequently decompressed to ambient atmospheric pressure in ca. 0.5 sec. Anoxia was thus prevented and the effects of rapid gas expansion, alone, could be observed. Of 99 animals which succumbed in expts. of this type, 26% gave evidence of pulmonary damage, while 87% showed gross aeroembolism. Time under pressure obviously constituted a potent factor in determining survival after decompression. Thus, at 30 atm. a time-under-pressure difference of 40 sec. altered the mortality rate from 100% to zero. Anoxia (atmosphere of N2) resulted in pulmonary hemorrhage in 50% of animals tested. Results indicated that anoxic anoxia and aeroembolism far outweight the physical expansion of intrapulmonary gases as lethal factors in explosive decompression.
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