Dysbarism

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 to be due to dysbarism until proven 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.

Dysbarism includes decompression sickness, arterial gas embolism (AGE), and barotraumas.

Decompression sickness is a complex of symptoms and disease caused by the formation of an excess of bubbles in body tissues. This occurs after an exposure to breathing gases at increased pressure, followed by a reduction in environmental pressure. AGE refers to the precipitation of gas bubbles in the arterial circulation. Decompression illness encompasses decompression sickness and AGE. Barotrauma is damage to tissues caused by the pressure-induced expansion and contraction of gases in enclosed spaces.

Nitrogen narcosis is a syndrome of reversible neurologic and behavioral changes produced by an increased partial pressure of nitrogen in the body.