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Diving disorders are medical conditions specifically arising from underwater diving. The signs and symptoms of these may present during a dive, on surfacing, or up to several hours after a dive. The principal conditions are decompression illness (which covers decompression sickness and arterial gas embolism ), nitrogen narcosis , high pressure ...
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.
Narcosis results from breathing gases under elevated pressure, and may be classified by the principal gas involved. The noble gases, except helium and probably neon, [2] as well as nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen cause a decrement in mental function, but their effect on psychomotor function (processes affecting the coordination of sensory or cognitive processes and motor activity) varies widely.
A basic knowledge understanding of the causes, symptoms and first aid treatment of diving related disorders is part of the basic training for most recreational and professional divers, both to help the diver avoid the disorders, and to allow appropriate action in case of an incident resulting in injury. [34]
Dysbaric osteonecrosis or DON is a form of avascular necrosis where there is death of a portion of the bone that is thought to be caused by nitrogen (N 2) embolism (blockage of the blood vessels by a bubble of nitrogen coming out of solution) in divers. [1]
Middle ear barotrauma is the single most common diving disorder for which treatment is sought, at nearly 50% of all reported diving injuries. Many more milder cases may go unreported. A history of head and neck cancers, with associated radiation treatment, has been associated with a relatively higher incidence of MEBT, possibly due to radiation ...
This is because scuba diving is considered an elective and "high-risk" activity and treatment for decompression sickness is expensive. A typical stay in a recompression chamber will easily cost several thousand dollars, even before emergency transportation is included.
High-pressure nervous syndrome (HPNS – also known as high-pressure neurological syndrome) is a neurological and physiological diving disorder which can result when a diver descends below about 500 feet (150 m) using a breathing gas containing helium. The effects experienced, and the severity of those effects, depend on the rate of descent ...