Doppler bubble detection and decompression sickness: a prospective clinical trial.

Decompression sickness in human beings exposed to high ambient pressure is thought to follow from gas bubble formation and growth in the body during return to low pressure. Detection of Doppler-shifted ultrasonic reflections in major blood vessels has been promoted as a noninvasive and sensitive indicator of the imminence of decompression sickness. We have conducted a double-blind, prospective clinical trial of Doppler ultrasonic bubble detection in simulated diving using 83 men, of whom 8 were stricken and treated for the clinical disease. Diagnosis based only on the Doppler signals had no correlation with clinical diagnosis. Bubble scores were only slightly higher in the stricken group. The Doppler technique does not appear to be of diagnostic value in the absence of other clinical information.