A new study suggests that pilots of the high-altitude U.S Air Force U-2 planes are prone to developing brain lesions triggered by decompression sickness. The researchers also confirmed that divers and mountain climbers are not excluded on the casualties of the effects of decompression in the brain.
Decompression sickness, also known as "diver's disease", is an injury caused by a sudden drop of air pressure which may happen whether you are in the sea or air. Decompression sends tiny bubbles to the blood vessels which often leads to joint pain that can last for days or weeks.
Dr. Stephen McGuire, lead author of the study and a neurologist with the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine in San Antonio, Texas, had observed that number of decompression sickness among U-2 pilots has increased by 300 percent over the last two decades. He initiated the study to find out if constant decompression may have a long-term complication to the pilots who often do rounds in Iraq and Afghanistan because of the war.
The researchers recruited 193 participants and conducted brain scans on each. All have similar age, health, and education level. 102 of them are U-2 pilots while 91 are non-pilots.
The scans revealed that U-2 pilots had 295 percent more brain lesions than the non-pilots. McGuire pointed at the "micro-emboli" as the possible cause of these injuries. These are tiny bubbles that enter the brain and doesn't show symptoms.
The brain would usually recover easily with these tiny blows but those frequent little blows may not be good for the brain in the long run.
The study was published in the Aug. 20 issue of the online journal Neurology.
Dr. Adam Bender, a diver and attending neurologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in NYC, has several ideas on how brain lesions on the U-2 pilots may be prevented.
"Possible prevention strategies include oxygen treatment, fewer flights and less exposure to extreme altitude. Another idea is to make U-2 planes that don't expose pilots to extreme pressure," Bender said to DoctorLounge.