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1841: First documented case of decompression sickness, reported by a mining engineer who observed pain and muscle cramps among coal miners working in mine shafts air-pressurized to keep water out. [citation needed] 1854: Decompression sickness reported and one resulting death of caisson workers on the Royal Albert Bridge. [118]
Decompression sickness is usually avoidable by following the requirements of decompression tables or algorithms regarding ascent rates and stop times for the specific dive profile, but these do not guarantee safety, and in some cases, unpredictably, there will be decompression sickness.
The physiology of decompression is the aspect of physiology which is affected by exposure to large changes in ambient pressure. It involves a complex interaction of gas solubility, partial pressures and concentration gradients, diffusion, bulk transport and bubble mechanics in living tissues. [1]
Decompression sickness (DCS) is a medical condition caused by dissolved gases emerging from solution as bubbles inside the body tissues during decompression.DCS most commonly occurs during or soon after a decompression ascent from underwater diving DCS and arterial gas embolism are collectively referred to as decompression illness.
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]
Risk management for decompression sickness involves following decompression schedules of known and acceptable risk, providing mitigation in the event of a hit (diving term indicating symptomatic decompression sickness), and reducing risk to an acceptable level by following recommended practice and avoiding deprecated practice to the extent ...
1868 – Alfred Le Roy de Méricourt described decompression sickness as an occupational illness of sponge divers. [3] 1873 – Dr. Andrew Smith first used the terms "caisson disease" and "compressed air illness", describing 110 cases of decompression sickness as the physician in charge during construction of the Brooklyn Bridge.
Once it was recognised that the symptoms were caused by gas bubbles, [30] and that re-compression could relieve the symptoms, [29] [32] Paul Bert showed in 1878 that decompression sickness is caused by nitrogen bubbles released from tissues and blood during or after decompression, and showed the advantages of breathing oxygen after developing ...