A Texas researcher hopes to build a laptop-size device to detect the onset of decompression sickness, or the bends, on submarines, the International Space Station and dive boats. Currently, the only way to diagnose the condition is to wait for the symptoms (including joint pain, headaches and burning in the chest) to begin. By then, however, it can be too late to prevent serious injury or death. University of Houston biomedical and mechanical engineering assistant professor Kirill Larin is adapting his research in the heady field of optical coherence tomography (OCT)--making high-resolution images of biological tissue using lasers--to create a device that could be used routinely on anyone making the transition from a high- to low-pressure environment.
Decompression sickness occurs when nitrogen and other inert gases dissolved in body tissue outgas and form tiny bubbles. It's most common in divers returning to the ocean's surface, but can also hit high-altitude pilots and astronauts once they land. As the bubbles expand, they can damage tissue and block blood vessels, causing pain and death. Work is underway to try to detect these bubbles using ultrasound imaging. But while ultrasound images typically have a resolution of 80-100 microns, OCT--which instead of sound detects backscattered photons from biological tissue--results in more detailed images, with a resolution of 2 to 10 microns. Larin, who has been applying his imaging systems to the study of cell and embryo development, recognized that OCT might be useful in diagnosing the bends. Such high-resolution imaging, he says, "will detect much smaller microbubbles in the blood and, if that leads to treatment, will prevent early symptoms of decompression sickness."
Working with Dr. Bruce Butler of the UT Health Sciences Center in Houston, Larin is fine-tuning a benchtop prototype, testing it on a simulation of blood flowing through human tissue. Within two to three years, he plans to progress to animal studies and then to clinical studies in humans. The goal is a portable device that detects the bends in seconds, by shining a laser on the skin to detect and assess the size of any microbubbles. "It might save lives from Navy divers to astronauts to leisure divers," Larin says.
TECH WATCH: Navy SEALs Could Turn Superhuman with Pentagon's PowerSwim