The earliest descriptions of DCS used the terms: 'bends' for joint or skeletal pain 'chokes' for breathing problems and 'staggers' for neurological problems. 3.2 Leaving a high-pressure environmentĭCS is classified by symptoms.1.1 Decompression illness and dysbarism.Early treatment results in a significantly higher chance of successful recovery. Diagnosis is confirmed by a positive response to the treatment. If DCS is suspected, it is treated by hyperbaric oxygen therapy in a recompression chamber. Its potential severity has driven much research to prevent it, and divers almost universally use dive tables or dive computers to limit their exposure and to monitor their ascent speed. The risk of DCS caused by diving can be managed through proper decompression procedures, and contracting the condition has become uncommon. The severity of symptoms varies from barely noticeable to rapidly fatal. The classification of types of DCS according to symptoms has evolved since its original description in the 19th century. Individual susceptibility can vary from day to day, and different individuals under the same conditions may be affected differently or not at all. Since bubbles can form in or migrate to any part of the body, DCS can produce many symptoms, and its effects may vary from joint pain and rashes to paralysis and death. DCS and arterial gas embolism are collectively referred to as decompression illness.

DCS most commonly occurs during or soon after a decompression ascent from underwater diving, but can also result from other causes of depressurisation, such as emerging from a caisson, decompression from saturation, flying in an unpressurised aircraft at high altitude, and extravehicular activity from spacecraft. Two United States Navy sailors demonstrate treatment for decompression sickness inside a decompression chamberĭecompression sickness (abbreviated 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. Divers' disease, the bends, aerobullosis, caisson disease

Altitude sickness symptoms