Dysbarism Treatment & Management

  • Author: Stephen A Pulley, MS, DO, FACOEP; Chief Editor: Barry E Brenner, MD, PhD, FACEP   more...
 
Updated: Apr 13, 2011
 

Prehospital Care

  • Extricate the patient from water and immobilize if trauma is suspected. Generally, in-water recompression is not believed to be a safe option. More is discussed about this in Decompression Sickness.
  • Administer 100% oxygen, intubate if necessary, and intravenously administer saline or lactated Ringer solution.
  • The use of first aid oxygen has proven so beneficial that the Divers Alert Network (DAN) has made a major effort to place oxygen at dive locations, in particular those that are remote with lengthy transport times to the nearest hyperbaric chambers, and to ensure that people are trained in its use. A study of the use of first aid oxygen found that the median time to its use after surfacing was 4 hours and 2.2 hours after the onset of DCS symptoms. Forty-seven percent of victims received the oxygen. Complete relief of symptoms was found in 14% of victims. Even more striking was that 51% of victims showed improvement. This was with the oxygen before HBO treatment. Even after a single HBO treatment, those that had received oxygen before the HBO dive, even if many hours earlier, had better outcomes.[50]
  • Aspirin is commonly considered and given in diving accidents for antiplatelet activity if the patient is not bleeding. However, there are no current data to support this practice.[51]
  • Perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation and advanced cardiac life support, if required, as well as needle decompression of the chest if tension pneumothorax is suspected.
  • Do not put patient into Trendelenburg position. Placing the patient in a head-down posture used to be considered a standard treatment of diving injuries to prevent cerebral gas embolization. This practice should be abandoned. The process actually increases intracranial pressure and exacerbates injury to the blood-brain barrier.[52] It also wastes time and complicates movement of the patient.
  • Transport to the nearest ED and hyperbaric facility, if feasible, and try to keep all diving gear with the diver. Diving gear may provide clues as to why the diver had trouble (eg, faulty air regulator, hose leak, carbon monoxide contamination of compressed air).
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Emergency Department Care

  • Administer 100% oxygen. Intubate if indicated.
  • Do not put the patient into the Trendelenburg position. Placing the patient into a head-down, Trendelenburg position previously was considered standard in the ED management of diving injuries to prevent cerebral gas embolization. Do not put patient into Trendelenburg position. This practice should be abandoned. The process actually increases intracranial pressure and exacerbates injury to the blood-brain barrier.[52] It also wastes time and complicates movement of the patient.
  • Intravenous fluids should be administered for rehydration until urinary output is 1-2 mL/kg/h.
  • Provide aggressive resuscitation, if required.
  • Aspirin is commonly considered and given in diving accidents for antiplatelet activity if the patient is not bleeding. However, there are no current data to support this practice.[51]
  • The patient should be treated for nausea, vomiting, pain, and headache.
  • Needle chest decompression and chest tube thoracostomy may be indicated to treat simple or tension pneumothorax.
  • Try to keep all diving gear with the diver.
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Consultations

Diving medicine or HBO specialists

Symptoms temporally related to diving indicate that consultation with a diving medicine or HBO specialist is needed.

The goal of this discussion is to determine the likelihood that symptoms are diving-related and the appropriateness of treatment with HBO therapy.

Otorhinolaryngologist

Urgent consultation with an ENT specialist may be useful.

The barotraumas of the middle and inner ears are caused by failure of the eustachian tube to release pressure. Early investigation into the use of natural or artificial eustachian tube surfactant shows promise as a potentially effective way to aid this process.[53]

Divers who experience inner ear DCS or barotrauma require detailed ENT diagnostic evaluation at follow-up. Most are asymptomatic but still have significant cochleovestibular deficits.[23] Inner ear barotrauma has a better short- and long-term outcome than inner ear DCS.

The specialist may often request sending the patient to the office. In such cases, consider inquiring about the ENT specialist's comfort with diving-related issues.

Divers Alert Network

Divers Alert Network (DAN) is an excellent resource, especially if local support is not available. Using this service should be considered similar to the use of a poison control center. It maintains a database of diving-related injuries and provides 24-hour-a-day consultative services including extent of injury assessment, recommendations for management, and referral to HBO therapy or local diving medicine specialists. Emergency contact 24 hours a day can be reached at the following numbers:

  • DAN America: 1-919-684-8111 or 1-919-684-4DAN (4326) (accepts collect calls)
  • DAN Latin America: 1-919-684-9111 (accepts collect calls)
  • DAN Europe: 39-06-4211-8685
  • DAN Southern Africa: 0800-020111 (within South Africa); 27-11-254-1112 (outside South Africa)
  • DAN Japan: 81-3-3812-4999
  • DAN SEAP DES New Zealand: 0800-4DES 111
  • DAN SEAP Singapore Naval: 6758-1733
  • DAN SEAP Malaysia: 05-930 4114
  • DAN SEAP Philippines: 02-815-9911
  • DAN SEAP DES Australia: 1-800-088-200 (within Australia); 61-8-8212-9242 (outside Australia)
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Contributor Information and Disclosures
Author

Stephen A Pulley, MS, DO, FACOEP  Assistant Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine; Attending Faculty, Emergency Medicine Residency, Albert Einstein Healthcare Network; Attending Physician, Montgomery Hospital Medical Center

Stephen A Pulley, MS, DO, FACOEP, is a member of the following medical societies: American College of Emergency Physicians, American College of Osteopathic Emergency Physicians, and American Osteopathic Association

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Specialty Editor Board

Steven A Conrad, MD, PhD  Chief, Department of Emergency Medicine; Chief, Multidisciplinary Critical Care Service, Professor, Department of Emergency and Internal Medicine, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center

Steven A Conrad, MD, PhD is a member of the following medical societies: American College of Chest Physicians, American College of Critical Care Medicine, American College of Emergency Physicians, American College of Physicians, International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation, Louisiana State Medical Society, Shock Society, Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, and Society of Critical Care Medicine

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Francisco Talavera, PharmD, PhD  Adjunct Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Pharmacy; Senior Pharmacy Editor, eMedicine

Disclosure: eMedicine Salary Employment

Eddy S Lang, MDCM, CCFP(EM), CSPQ  Associate Professor, Senior Researcher, Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Family Medicine, University of Calgary; Assistant Professor, Department of Family Medicine, McGill University

Eddy S Lang, MDCM, CCFP(EM), CSPQ is a member of the following medical societies: American College of Emergency Physicians, Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians, and Society for Academic Emergency Medicine

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

John D Halamka, MD, MS  Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; Chief Information Officer, CareGroup Healthcare System and Harvard Medical School; Attending Physician, Division of Emergency Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

John D Halamka, MD, MS is a member of the following medical societies: American College of Emergency Physicians, American Medical Informatics Association, Phi Beta Kappa, and Society for Academic Emergency Medicine

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Chief Editor

Barry E Brenner, MD, PhD, FACEP  Professor of Emergency Medicine, Professor of Internal Medicine, Program Director, Emergency Medicine, Case Medical Center, University Hospitals, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

Barry E Brenner, MD, PhD, FACEP is a member of the following medical societies: Alpha Omega Alpha, American Academy of Emergency Medicine, American College of Chest Physicians, American College of Emergency Physicians, American College of Physicians, American Heart Association, American Thoracic Society, Arkansas Medical Society, New York Academy of Medicine, New York Academy of Sciences, and Society for Academic Emergency Medicine

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

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The Boyle gas law. Every 33 ft of descent increases the pressure by 1 atm. Therefore, lung volume during a breath-hold dive at 33 ft is one half that at the surface. At 66 ft, it is one third that at the surface; at 99 ft, it is one quarter; and at 132 ft, it is one fifth.
The Boyle gas law. Descending to 33 ft decreases lung volume by one half. If an individual takes a breath from a SCUBA tank, then surfaces without venting (exhaling), pressure in the lungs, with minimal ability to further expand, increases to twice normal, which probably causes rupture. The greatest change occurs in the top 33 ft when surfacing.
 
 
 
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