M-mode ultrasonic detection of microbubbles following saturation diving: a case report and proposal for a new grading system.

An M-mode ultrasound system was used to obtain a reliable method for the evaluation of microbubbles caused by decompression. When the probe is focused in the outflow tract of the right ventricle it is easy to recognize a linear configuration of the echoes caused by the microbubbles. A quantitative study of microbubbles can be done by counting the number of linear echoes per second. Application of this method is reported following saturation diving decompression. We think the reported method is worthy of further use.