A medical researcher from the University of California-San Diego is working on a project to study heart failure during diving.
Recently, that researcher — Dr. Derek Covington, an Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine Fellow at UCSD — conducted trials at Y-40, the world’s deepest pool diving facility in Montegrotto, Italy.
rEvo Rebreathers employees participated in the study, according to the company. Testing included pre- and post-dive medical checks with ultrasound scans and blood draws. All the divers dove to a “predefined protocol” and received an ultrasound scan while underwater:
“As an ongoing, continual study, the results will not be known for some time but whatever the results turn out to be, it will almost certainly add to the growing knowledge we have on diving physiology and contribute to making both technical and recreational diving safer for everyone involved.”
Covington is a qualified rEvo Rebreather diver who placed an open “call for assistance” with his study on the rebreather forums, according to the company.
“As a company who values research above all else, it was an opportunity that was too good for us to miss,” rEvo said.
