Pigs wearing heated diving suits and diapers reveal a better way to beat 'the bends'

Deep-sea divers often face the bends, a condition caused by dissolved gas bubbles forming in their blood and tissues when they ascend too rapidly. Researchers have explored whether using different gases could mitigate this issue, revealing promising results. Pigs, used as test subjects due to their physiology resembling divers, were fitted with specialized suits and subjected to simulated deep-sea dives.

Half of the pigs breathed heliox, a helium and oxygen mix, while the other half were switched to a different gas mix for the last 10 minutes of their dive. The latter group inhaled oxygen and carbon tetrafluoride (CF4), a gas with larger, less soluble molecules that enter tissues more slowly. After their simulated dives, both groups were monitored for three hours.

The pigs breathing only heliox exhibited severe signs of decompression sickness, including impaired mobility and fatal embolisms in their hearts. In contrast, the pigs exposed to CF4 did not suffer any fatal consequences. While the findings may not immediately impact human diving practices due to the high cost of CF4, the research holds potential for reducing the risk of decompression sickness, particularly in commercial and military diving scenarios.