Evaluation Criteria for the Respiratory Function of the Divers

The respiratory effort in hyperbaric conditions is of particular nature, leading to an increase of the respiratory flow of the diver and to the change of their pulmonary volumes. There are important criteria in the selection process of the most suitable divers. Some of these criteria are related to the respiratory function. In order to evaluate the divers respiratory function an examination of the pulmonary volumes is performed in regards to their variations measured by spirometry, of the increased oxygen consumption in hyperbaric conditions and of the production of carbon dioxide during the unitary dive at the depth of work using air as a respiratory mixture. The physical and physiological phenomena involved in the hyperbaric respiration have been studied in cooperation with “Ovidius” University of Constanta, Faculty of Medicine. A specific medical method of evaluation of the pulmonary ventilation, spirometry, the measurement of forced expiratory volume in the first second of a forced expiration, Tiffneau index, have been adapted to the under pressure breathing environment. The parameters have been studied as experimental determinations on diver groups, during simulated diving, using air as a respiratory mixture, at 50 [mH2O] in the Hyperbaric Complex of the Diving Centre