Different pathology of MIs underwater?

[divemed06]

Hi there,

Just wondering if any (human or animal) research has surfaced reguarding the "physiology of an underwater MI"? We tend to see many reports of dive fatalities relating to MIs and I've always assumed that the pathology of an MI underwater is the same as that of one occuring at the surface. Is it not possible that acute MIs in a pressurized environment results in a greater, see faster myocardial necrosis and different arrhythmias than those occuring on land. Just curious...

 

[Snowbear]

...We tend to see many reports of dive fatalities relating to MIs and I've always assumed that the pathology of an MI underwater is the same as that of one occuring at the surface...

Well, this is opinion only, but I think if you're going to have an MI and happen to be underwater at the time, this physiology is pretty much the same. That said, I think your survivability is going to be less probable due to the timeliness of getting treatment!!

If your MI is the kind that causes cardiac chest pain and other associated symptoms and you happen to be under water, you're not going to be able to get treatment until you surface. If you recognize the symptoms (i.e. are not in denial) and surface at at a reasonable ascent rate and obtain treatment and are not so far off shore as to not be able to obtain definitive treatment, you will likely have a good outcome.

If it's the kind of MI that causes "sudden death" from a dysrythmia, that treatment will most not likely be expedient enough to lead to your resurrection and subsequest survival. It only takes 6 minutes or less for irreversble brain death to occur :frown: