Arteriovenous bubbles following cold water sport dives: relation to right-to-left shunting

Neurologic injury subsequent to decompression from diving may be due to paradoxical arterialization of venous gas emboli. Of 40 divers who performed 53 open water dives after being tested for a patent foramen ovale (PFO), arterial gas emboli were detected in 7 of 13 dives, which resulted in venous bubbles. In five of these seven dives, there was evidence of a PFO by contrast transcranial Doppler sonography, indicating an increased risk of arterializing venous bubbles in divers with a PFO.