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Decompression sickness (DCS; also called divers' disease, the bends, aerobullosis, and caisson disease) is a medical condition caused by dissolved gases emerging from solution as bubbles inside the body tissues during decompression.
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 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]
Divers are exposed to raised partial pressures of oxygen in normal diving activities, where the partial pressure of oxygen in the breathing gas is increased in proportion to the ambient pressure at depth, and by using gas mixtures in which oxygen is substituted for inert gases to reduce decompression obligations, to accelerate decompression, or ...
See: baseline taravana Main article: Taravana A form of decompression sickness originally observed among Polynesian island natives who habitually did multiple repetitive deep breath-hold dives. task loading Main article: Task loading A multiplicity of responsibilities leading to an increased risk of failure on the part of the diver to undertake some key basic function which would normally be ...
NASA accidentally broadcast a simulation of astronauts being treated for decompression sickness on the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday, prompting speculation of an emergency in ...
The risk of decompression sickness after diving can be managed through effective decompression procedures and contracting it is now uncommon, though it remains to some degree unpredictable. Its potential severity has driven much research to prevent it and divers almost universally use decompression tables or dive computers to limit or monitor ...
An indicator of risk for decompression sickness associated with the excess (supersaturation) of inert gas dissolved in the various tissues throughout the body, driving bubble formation and growth. Decompression stress can occur without symptomatic decompression sickness, but decompression sickness is a consequence of a high decompression stress ...