What is fibrotic lesions?

[Tommer]

Recently I took a x-ray on my chest, was told that I have fibrotic lesions on my bilateral apical lungs. Will this affect my diving? or this is the end of my dive career? (hobby that is) Need some expert advice please.

Tommer

 

[beche de mer]

Recently I took a x-ray on my chest, was told that I have fibrotic lesions on my bilateral apical lungs. Will this affect my diving? or this is the end of my dive career? (hobby that is) Need some expert advice please.

Tommer

There's not really enough information for your question to be answered in detail, Tommer, but briefly, "fibrotic lesions" means scarring of the lung tissue. This can come about through various causes. Fibrosis usually indicates old, longstanding lung disease.

Whether this impacts on diving or not would depend, to some extent, on the cause. Why was the X-ray done?

One concern with fibrosis might be air trapping - i.e. air under pressure entering a particular part of the lung while at depth, and not being able to escape when the air expands during ascent.

But if you have been diving for some time and just happened to have the X-ray done because of some intercurrent condition, it may not have any impact on your diving.

Your question can't really be answered in general terms. This is a situation in which your specific circumstances have to be assessed by the appropriate type of doctor. I'd suggest a respiratory physician with a knowledge of scuba. You will probably require lung function tests and more detailed imaging (special X-rays) of the lungs.

 

[Tommer]

Thank you for the feed back beche de mer. This scuba hobby started about 2 years ago, since then I have put in around 80 some dives, my last chest x-ray was about 7 years ago, at that time the doctor told me this wasn't serious enough to loose sleep over it, 7 years later (now) this x-ray was part of my physical exam, the report they sent me in the mail saying that I have fibrotic leisons. (meaning too much iron in my lung, I think). the report was not very clear to me about this case. I will go visit my primary physican next week and get a complete detail on this problem. I just hope this is not the end of my diving days. Again thanks for your reply beche de mer.

Tommer

 

[Saturation]

Thank you for the feed back beche de mer. This scuba hobby started about 2 years ago, since then I have put in around 80 some dives, my last chest x-ray was about 7 years ago, at that time the doctor told me this wasn't serious enough to loose sleep over it, 7 years later (now) this x-ray was part of my physical exam, the report they sent me in the mail saying that I have fibrotic leisons. (meaning too much iron in my lung, I think). the report was not very clear to me about this case. I will go visit my primary physican next week and get a complete detail on this problem. I just hope this is not the end of my diving days. Again thanks for your reply beche de mer.

Tommer

If a diver had been diving without issues before the X-ray that shows 'apical fibrosis' and now have > 80 dives, its unlikely to be an issue now. Apical scars are common in post-tuberculosis infections. If found BEFORE one ever dove, every dive physician would wonder what it meant in terms of risk ... but having already dove said diver has shown its less of a risk, a posteriori, QED.