(98a) Modelling of Bubble Growth in Tissues during the Decompression Sickness

Decompression sickness (DCS) is a dangerous and occasionally lethal condition caused by nitrogen bubbles that form in the tissues of divers who surface too quickly. The subject of decompression theory in general is the study of pressure changes in blood and tissues. This paper presented a model that combined by three important aspects of DCS : gas exchange between the capillary bed and the tissue, bubble growth in the tissue, and gas exchange between tissue and a single bubble. The used modelling methodology was based on hierarchical composition of process. This method was contained of physical, species and equation topology that helped to have a good view of process during modelling. The mathematical model was solved by a computer-aided modelling tool named Modeller that implemented by using the BlackBox 1.4 and runs by MATLAB programming language. The model was able to predict the pressure changes in blood and tissues during decompression and following deal of bubble growth. It was possible to evaluate of important effective factors on DCS process. Three case studies were provided to present detail of the derived model. The purpose of them was to study of some main factors such as type of tissue on DCS process.