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A multiplace chamber is the preferred facility for treatment of decompression sickness as it allows direct physical access to the patient by medical personnel, but monoplace chambers are more widely available and should be used for treatment if a multiplace chamber is not available or transportation would cause significant delay in treatment ...
Treatment for the Decompression Sickness and the Arterial Gas Embolism components of DCI may differ significantly, but that depends mostly on the symptoms, as both conditions are generally treated based on the symptoms. [2] Refer to the separate treatments under those articles. Urgency of treatment depends on the symptoms.
The usual symptoms are tinnitus, ataxia, difficulty with coordination, vertigo, nausea, vomiting, and hearing loss. [10] [11] It is not unusual for other symptoms of decompression sickness to be present simultaneously, which can make diagnosis easier, but sometimes only vestibular symptoms manifest.
Treatment depends on the specific disorder, but often includes oxygen therapy, which is standard first aid for most diving accidents, and is hardly ever contra-indicated for a person medically fit to dive, and hyperbaric therapy is the definitive treatment for decompression sickness.
The principal conditions are decompression illness (which covers decompression sickness and arterial gas embolism), nitrogen narcosis, high pressure nervous syndrome, oxygen toxicity, and pulmonary barotrauma (burst lung). Although some of these may occur in other settings, they are of particular concern during diving activities. [1]
Experimental work on verification of decompression tables by the US Navy Experimental Diving Unit with outcomes of symptomatic decompression sickness treated divers displaying symptoms by immediate recompression on oxygen, with 100% resolution of symptoms, and almost all cases resolved during the first treatment on Table 6, most of them during ...
Symptoms of decompression sickness may be very similar to, and confused with, symptoms of arterial gas embolism, however, treatment is basically the same. Discrimination between gas embolism and decompression sickness may be difficult for injured divers, and both may occur simultaneously.
By using the most conservative decompression schedule reasonably practicable, and by minimizing the number of major decompression exposures, the risk of DON may be reduced. [citation needed] Prompt treatment of any symptoms of decompression sickness (DCS) with recompression and hyperbaric oxygen also reduce the risk of subsequent DON. [citation ...