Publications

Selected scientific publications on diving medicine and physiology.

Search

Area of interest

2016 Eyl 5

A red orange extract modulates the vascular response to a recreational dive: a pilot study on the effect of anthocyanins on the physiological consequences of scuba diving.

Balestra C, Cimino F, Theunissen S, Snoeck T, Provyn S, Canali R, Bonina A, Virgili F.

Nutritional antioxidants have been proposed as an expedient strategy to counter the potentially deleterious effects of scuba diving on endothelial function, flow-mediated dilation (FMD) and heart function...

Correlation between Patent Foramen Ovale, Cerebral "Lesions" and Neuropsychometric Testing in Experienced Sports Divers: Does Diving Damage the Brain?

Balestra C, Germonpré P.

SCUBA diving exposes divers to decompression sickness (DCS). There has been considerable debate whether divers with a Patent Foramen Ovale of the heart have a higher risk of DCS because of the possible right-to-left shunt of venous decompression bubbles into the arterial circulation. Symptomatic neurological DCS has been shown to cause permanent damage to brain and spinal cord tissue; it has been suggested that divers with PFO may be at higher risk of developing subclinical brain lesions because of repeated asymptomatic embolization of decompression-induced nitrogen bubbles...