Publications

Selected scientific publications on diving medicine and physiology.

2010 Oca 2
Pre-dive vibration effect on bubble formation after a 30-m dive requiring a decompression stop
Germonpré P1, Pontier JM, Gempp E, Blatteau JE, Deneweth S, Lafère P, Marroni A, Balestra C.

INTRODUCTION: The preconditioning of divers to reduce post-dive decompression sickness (DCS) has gained increased interest in diving medical research over the last few years. The beneficial effects of physical exercise, oxygen breathing, hyperbaric exposure, heat exposure, hyperhydration, or nitroglycerin administration before the dive are only a few examples of ongoing research. In this work, we investigated the effects of pre-dive whole-body vibration on post-dive bubble formation.

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2010 Eyl 10
Evaluation of critical flicker fusion frequency and perceived fatigue in divers after air and enriched air nitrox diving
Lafère P, Balestra C, Hemelryck W, Donda N, Sakr A, Taher A, Marroni S, Germonpré P.

INTRODUCTION: Many divers report less fatigue following dives breathing enriched air nitrox (EANx) compared with breathing air. A reduction of post-dive fatigue with EANx would suggest a pathological origin, possibly the presence of asymptomatic nitrogen bubbles in the body after a dive.

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2010 Oca 2
Decompression illness medically reported by hyperbaric treatment facilities: cluster analysis of 1929 cases
Ozyigit T, Egi SM, Denoble P, Balestra C, Aydin S, Vann R, Marroni A.

INTRODUCTION: The term decompression illness (DCI) describes maladies resulting from inadequate decompression, but there is little consensus concerning clinically useful DCI subclasses. Our aim was to explore an objective DCI classification using multivariate statistics to assess naturally associated clusters of DCI manifestations. We also evaluated their mapping onto other DCI classifications and investigated the association with therapeutic outcome.

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2010 Ara 10
The musculus pterygoïdeus proprius: an in-vivo approach with magnetic resonance imaging
Snoeck T1, Provyn S, Balestra C, Parlak B, Emonts P, Sesbouë B, Clarys JP.

There is a limited understanding of the normal function of the pterygoïdeus proprius muscle and the role that this muscle may have in temporomandibular disorders. Despite a well-described anatomical in-vitro approach to this muscle, there are still difficulties in investigating the fossa pterygopalatina. This study reveals an alternative in-vivo approach by magnetic resonance imaging to visualise the muscle in the fossa pterygopalatina on 78 head halves, describe the connections with the musculus temporalis and pterygoïdeus lateralis as well as report the incidence without dealing with the known inconveniences of the dissection approach. The results show an incidence of 12.82% for the musculus pterygoïdeus proprius equally divided between both genders. Two different types of bridging between the musculus temporalis and musculus pterygoïdeus lateralis were also found: (i) 'O' shape (6.41%) and (ii) 'Y' shape (6.41%). This study suggests the use of magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the different connections between vascular and muscular structures in the fossa pterygopalatina. Further research with this approach to link the appearance of the muscle with neurovascular entrapment syndromes is warranted.

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Acupuncture effect on thermal tolerance and electrical pain threshold: a randomised controlled trial
Amand M, Nguyen-Huu F, Balestra C.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to test whether acupuncture could modify the threshold of tolerance to thermal and electrical stimuli. METHODS: A randomised placebo-controlled single-blind trial was conducted in 36 healthy volunteers randomly distributed to control (no treatment), conventional acupuncture and sham acupuncture groups. The subjects were blind to the group allocation. The authors measured before and after treatment the pain threshold with the Painmatcher (Cefar Medical AB, Lund, Sweden) and the cold tolerance with the cold pressor test, together with the Visual Analogue Scale pain score.

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