The Treatment of Decompression Sickness and Air Embolism in a Monoplace Chamber.

Abstract

Eighty-three patients (76males, 7 females) were presented to the authors with the diagnosis of decompression illness (DCS) and/or air embolism (AE) resulting from diving using open air breathing devices. Three males were found to have Munchausen’s syndrome. Four males were excluded with other diseases, namely, inguinal, herniated lumbar disc, perforated ear drum, and one with a basal skull fracture. Twenty-one patients (95%) with DCS I were asymptomatic with minimal O2 compression in a monoplace chamber. Seventeen patients with DCS II/AE initially treated in a multiplace chamber elsewhere, were extended in treatment in the monoplace with 11 (65%) becoming asymptomatic. Thirty-five patients (32 males, 3 females) with DCS II/AE were treated in the monoplace and 33 (94%) rendered asymptomatic. In conclusion, minimal O2 compressions are useful to treat DCS/AE and are useful as an extension to failures of others tables.