ABSTRACT
The outcomes of the decompression profiles related to extravehicular activity and to supersonic transport aircraft proved to be markedly different. The neurological disturbances observed in animals after decompressions that related to a 6 inch diameter defect indicated that severe cortical damage had been inflicted. Damage was most prominent in the neocortex. It was symmetrical and decreased forward from the occipital to the frontal lobes. The former involved the boundary zones between the cerebral arteries and spread across the parietal, temporal and frontal cortices, and the latter affected the thalamus and basal ganglia. Transient neurological and residual cognitive impairments are observed in some climbers as well as in subjects undergoing simulated ascents. The cascade leading to brain damage is determined not only by the hypoxaemia but also by the modulation of cerebral blood flow, and cerebral blood flow, itself, is influenced by both systemic and local factors.
