The experimental variable is the surface interval between the dives and flight. The objective of the study is to estimate the relationship between the preflight surface interval and DCI incidence for each dive series. A preflight surface interval is accepted or rejected within the study based upon the number of DCI incidents and total exposures. These rules were approved by the Institutional Review Board of Duke Medical Center. Two experiments with up to 12 subjects are conducted monthly.
Subjects are dry and at rest throughout the dives and flight.
Experiments begin on Friday and can take one to two days. Preflight surface intervals have been studied for single and repetitive dives to 100 and 60 fsw. Depending on the dive profile, preflight surface intervals found to be free from DCS ranged from 10-16 hours. Approximately one year will be required to complete single and repetitive dive tests at 40 fsw and to develop a predictive decompression model for extrapolating the results. The predictions of this model will require validation in a separate series of trials.