DECOMPRESSION SICKNESS
DEFINITION |
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Decompression sickness (DCS) is a dangerous and
occasionally lethal condition caused by nitrogen bubbles that form
in the blood and other tissues of scuba divers who surface too
quickly. |
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According to the Divers Alert Network (DAN), a worldwide
organization devoted to safe-diving research and promotion, less
than 1% of divers fall victim to Decompression Sickness or the rarer bubble problem
called gas embolism, air embolism, or arterial gas embolism (AGE). A
study of the U.S. military community in Okinawa, where tens of
thousands of sport and military dives are made each year, identified
84 Decompression Sickness and 10 AGE cases in 1989–95, including 9 deaths. This
translated into estimates of one case in every 7,400 dives and one
death in every 76,900 dives. But Decompression Sickness symptoms can be quite mild, and
many cases certainly go unnoticed by divers.
At times the terminology adopted by writers on Decompression Sickness can be confusing.
Some substitute the term decompression illness (DCI) for Decompression Sickness. Others
treat DCI as a label encompassing both Decompression Sickness and AGE. An older term
for Decompression Sickness is caisson disease, coined in the nineteenth century when it
was discovered that bridge construction crews working at the bottom
of lakes and rivers in large pressurized enclosures (caissons) were
experiencing joint pain (a typical Decompression Sickness symptom) on returning to the
surface. |
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| DECOMPRESSION SICKNESS RELATED ITEMS |
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