Maximum likelihood analysis of air and HeO2 dives.

The method of maximum likelihood analysis was applied to data consisting of 1,949 man-dives, of which 1,041 were on air and 908 were on HeO2 mixtures. These dives represented a wide range of bottom time and depth combinations, and had an overall incidence of decompression sickness (DCS) of 4.64%. Several models, based on single exponential gas uptake in either one or two compartments, were tested for predicting the incidence of DCS. The criterion for defining the risk of DCS was based on the concept of potential gas volume (i.e., the volume of a bubble that could form and be in equilibrium with the remaining gas dissolved in solution). This criterion takes into account the solubilities of the gases in solution, but can be adjusted to account only for the partial pressures of the gases. The best model for the prediction of DCS was found for two compartments where the kinetics (time constants) and not the gas solubilities of nitrogen and helium were distinguished from each other. Results using the best prediction model with the present data suggests the following: 1) most of the risk of DCS occurs after surfacing; 2) most of the risk occurs in the "slow" compartment (approximately 420 min time constant); and 3) nitrogen contributes about twice as much as helium to the risk of DCS for HeO2 dives.