A dynamic study of vanilmandelic acid elimination in the urine of divers in a dive at 21 ATA in saturation with a helium-oxygen respiratory mixture.

The purpose of this paper is a first assessment of the effect of stress agents specific for hyperbarism in professional divers. We selected the elimination of vanilmandelic acid (VMA) in the urine as an indicator. We studied four professional divers in a dive at 21 ATA. In order to assess the strain-induced by every distinct moment of the saturation profile we took samples of urine and determined VMA at four-hour intervals, before and after the distinct moment of saturation. The values found in the same four divers at the surface were used as "controls". VMA dosing in the urine proves to be a sensitive indicator for the assessment of stress and adaptive reactions during saturation.