MEDICAL BIOLOGY, HUMAN ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY - Ya.I. Fedoniuk 2010

ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, PATHOLOGY

CHAPTER 6. THE RESPIRATORY PROCESS AND ITS PATHOLOGY

RESPIRATION UNDER VARIOUS CONDITIONS

3. RESPIRATION AT HIGH ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE

Divers operate under conditions of high air pressure. When submerging underwater, The amount of gases dissolved in the Blood increases. An elevated blood oxygen level can lead to oxygen toxicity, which is accompanied by convulsions. Therefore, helium-oxygen mixtures are used for deep-sea dives.

Particular attention must be paid to the ascent of divers from high pressure at depth to normal surface pressure. Rapid ascent can lead to decompression sickness (caisson disease), caused by the release of nitrogen from Tissues and the blockage of small Blood Vessels by nitrogen bubbles in the bloodstream—gas embolism—which disrupts Blood Circulation and can result in death. To treat decompression sickness, the patient is placed in a high-pressure chamber, which forces the nitrogen bubbles to redissolve.



Last update: 08/08/2026

Editorial and Educational Adaptation: This material has been compiled based on the primary/original source text. The project team performed an editorial review, corrected technical inaccuracies, structured sections, and adapted the content for an educational format.

What was processed:

  • elimination of formatting defects (OCR errors, structural breaks, corrupted characters);
  • editorial organization of content;
  • standardization of terminology in accordance with academic sources;
  • verification of factual statements against the original source text.

All mentions of the author, publication year, and origin of the primary text have been preserved in accordance with the source.