IS A PATENT FORAMEN OVALE A RISK FACTOR IN DIVING?
The DAN Europe research group has, during the past year, conducted a standardised study on the incidence of foramen ovale in decompression accidents. The aim of the study is to see if such a form of atrial septal structure may, in any way, imply an increased risk during recreational diving. Actually, our research work compares two groups of divers of similar age, height, weight, body mass index, number of annual dives, habits etc. One of the two groups consists of divers who have had at least one diving accident. If we compare the data obtained from the two groups each of 37 divers, we obtain a 62% incidence of patent foramen ovale in the group of divers who had accidents (43.5% in the control group). From the investigations carried out it results that patent foramen ovale is present in 88% of the divers with cerebral damage and 40% in those divers with peripheral neurological symptoms. Our results show, therefore, a significantly higher incidence of patent foramen ovale in decompressi
