Circulating venous bubbles in children after diving.

Doppler ultrasonic detection of circulating venous bubbles after a scuba dive is a useful index of decompression safety in adults, since a relationship between bubbles and the risk of decompression sickness has been documented. No study, however, has investigated circulating venous bubbles in Young recreational divers after their usual dives. The aim of this study was to determine whether these bubbles would be detected in children who performed a single dive without any modification in their diving habits. Tell young recreational divers (13.1 +/- 2.3 years) performed their usual air dive. They were Doppler-monitored 20 min before the dive (12 +/- 3 m for 26 +/- 7 min) and for 60 min after surfacing, at 20-min intervals. No circulating venous bubbles were detected after the children surfaced. The results showed that during a usual shallow diving session, venous bubbles were not detected in children.