Resumen

• Dysbarism is a collective term for all illnesses resulting from changes in ambient pressure that occur at a rate exceeding the capacity of the person to adapt safely. Conditions such as decompression sickness (the bends), arterial gas embolism (AGE), and barotrauma may result.
• Decompression illness is a term that refers to both decompression sickness and AGE.
• Diagnosis of dysbarism can usually be made on history and examination alone.
• Gas coming out of solution and forming bubbles is the prime cause of decompression sickness, whereas gas contraction and expansion causes barotrauma.
• Any body tissue can be affected, resulting in a wide variety of clinical presentations. Any new symptom with a close temporal relation to diving should be presumed due to dysbarism until shown to be otherwise.
• The unpredictability of ultimate outcome at the onset of any decompression illness requires each case to be managed as a medical emergency.
• Recompression is the mainstay of treatment for decompression illness. Early administration improves outcome.
• Oxygen administration plays a key role in all cases of decompression illness, both as emergency treatment and during recompression.