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Asystole and increased serum myoglobin levels associated with 'packing blackout' in a competitive breath-hold diver.

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Author

Summary, in English

Summary Many competitive breath-hold divers use 'glossopharyngeal insufflation', also called 'lung packing', to overfill their lungs above normal total lung capacity. This increases intrathoracic pressure, decreases venous return, compromises cardiac pumping, and reduces arterial blood pressure, possibly resulting in a syncope breath-hold divers call 'packing blackout'. We report a case with a breath-hold diver who inadvertently experienced a packing blackout. During the incident, an electrocardiogram (ECG) and blood pressure were recorded, and blood samples for determinations of biomarkers of cardiac muscle perturbation (creatine kinase-MB isoenzyme (CK-MB), cardiac troponin-T (TnT), and myoglobin) were collected. The ECG revealed short periods of asystole during the period of 'packing blackout', simultaneous with pronounced reductions in systolic, diastolic, and pulse pressures. Serum myoglobin concentration was elevated 40 and 150 min after the incident, whereas there were no changes in CK-MB or TnT. The ultimate cause of syncope in this diver probably was a decrease in cerebral perfusion following glossopharyngeal insufflation. The asystolic periods recorded in this diver could possibly indicate that susceptible individuals may be put at risk of a serious cardiac incident if the lungs are excessively overinflated by glossopharyngeal insufflation. This concern is further substantiated by the observed increase in serum myoglobin concentration after the event.

Publishing year

2009

Language

English

Pages

458-461

Publication/Series

Clinical Physiology and Functional Imaging

Volume

29

Issue

6

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Topic

  • Other Clinical Medicine

Keywords

  • cardiac markers
  • apnoea
  • dysrythmia
  • glossopharyngeal insufflation
  • hypotension
  • syncope

Status

Published

Research group

  • Cardiorespiratory Physiology Group

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1475-0961