Submersible echocardiograph

[trux]

There are again some new physiology documents in the Freediving Media Base (documents medical @ APNEA.cz). One of them is a new study of cardiac function during breath-hold diving by researches of the C.N.R Institute of Clinical Physiology, Pisa, Italy. Similar echocardiographic studies were previously done during simulated (dry) breath-hold. This time, the researchers used a recently developed submersible Doppler echocardiograph, which allowed them monitoring the cardiac function during real dives. The results show more pronounced cardiac responses with increasing depth.

You can read the abstract here: Cardiac function during breath-hold diving in huma...[Undersea Hyperb Med. 2008 Mar-Apr] - PubMed Result

I found another website showing a page about the study with some more details:
Apria - resources - News

The existence of the submersible echocardiograph may be interesting for those of you interested in detailed monitoring for training purposes or in physiology research. I am afraid though that it is a prototype available to the researchers of the CNR institute in Pisa only.

 

[fpernett]

I had the opportunity to read the full text article and the main results are:
-Decrease in cardiac ouput (due to reduction in stroke volume and cardiac rate) with no differences between 3 meters and 10 meters dives.
-No changes in right cardiac chambers
-Reduction in left atrial dimentions at 3 meters but not on 10 m dives

The participants were from apnea academy, and training is a cofounding factor. On the other hand, not trained people will have a real hard time holding their breath for 90 secs at 10 meters.