Biomaterial Database

[Scuba diving and hyperbaric medicine]. 2009

Deborah Pugin, and Jean-Yves Berney

Unité des soins intensifs adultes, Département d'anesthésiologie, pharmacie et soins intensifs, HUG, 1211 Genève 14.

Scuba diving is widely practiced in Switzerland. Although rare, decompression sickness may be serious and require specialized treatment. Hyperbaric therapy has been used for a long time with beneficial effects on decompression sickness and gaseous embolism. Conversely, barotrauma does not require recompressive therapy.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D003665	Decompression Sickness	A condition occurring as a result of exposure to a rapid fall in ambient pressure. Gases, nitrogen in particular, come out of solution and form bubbles in body fluid and blood. These gas bubbles accumulate in joint spaces and the peripheral circulation impairing tissue oxygenation causing disorientation, severe pain, and potentially death.	Bends,Caisson Disease,Caisson Diseases,Disease, Caisson,Diseases, Caisson,Sickness, Decompression
D004242	Diving	An activity in which the organism plunges into water. It includes scuba and bell diving. Diving as natural behavior of animals goes here, as well as diving in decompression experiments with humans or animals.	Divings
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D006931	Hyperbaric Oxygenation	The therapeutic intermittent administration of oxygen in a chamber at greater than sea-level atmospheric pressures (three atmospheres). It is considered effective treatment for air and gas embolisms, smoke inhalation, acute carbon monoxide poisoning, caisson disease, clostridial gangrene, etc. (From Segen, Dictionary of Modern Medicine, 1992). The list of treatment modalities includes stroke.	Oxygenation, Hyperbaric,Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy,Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapies,Hyperbaric Oxygenations,Oxygen Therapies, Hyperbaric,Oxygen Therapy, Hyperbaric,Oxygenations, Hyperbaric,Therapies, Hyperbaric Oxygen,Therapy, Hyperbaric Oxygen
D013557	Switzerland	A country in Europe. It is bordered by Austria, France, Italy, Liechtenstein, and Germany. The capital is Bern.