PMID- 23508662
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20130423
LR  - 20141212
IS  - 1833-3516 (Print)
IS  - 1833-3516 (Linking)
VI  - 43
IP  - 1
DP  - 2013 Mar
TI  - How delay to recompression influences treatment and outcome in recreational 
      divers with mild to moderate neurological decompression sickness in a remote 
      setting.
PG  - 42-5
AB  - INTRODUCTION: This retrospective review examined the influence of delay to 
      recompression on mild/moderate neurological decompression sickness (DCS) in 
      divers, as a pilot for an abandoned prospective study. METHODS: The medical 
      histories of 28 divers treated at a hyperbaric facility in the Maldive Islands in 
      the Indian Ocean were evaluated. The term 'oxygen unit' (OU; 1 OU = 1 bar 
      (ambient pressure) x 1 min x 1.0 (inspiratory oxygen fraction)) was used to 
      enable a quantification of administered hyperbaric oxygen. Visual analog symptom 
      scale (VASS) scores of the worst symptom at presentation (used routinely at the 
      clinic to quantify treatment response) were analysed. RESULTS: Divers presenting 
      later than 17 hours after surfacing (the median time to treatment after surfacing 
      for the whole group) were likely to have more intense symptoms on VASS (median 
      100%) than those who presented earlier for treatment (median 30%, P = 0.02). 
      Total OU needed to treat divers presenting within 17 hours did not differ from 
      those treated later (P = 0.11). Divers with >/= 70% symptom reduction with the 
      first hyperbaric oxygen treatment (HBOT) needed between 260 and 1,463 OU in 
      total, whereas those with less than 70% reduction in VASS needed between 263 and 
      2,126 OU (P = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: Neither more HBOT nor a worse outcome of DCS 
      could be related to delay to treatment longer than 17 hours. The amount of oxygen 
      that had to be administered in total during the whole HBOT course was lower in 
      cases that responded better to the initial HBOT.
FAU - Mutzbauer, Till S
AU  - Mutzbauer TS
AD  - Bandos Medical Centre, Bandos, Republic of Maldives, Zuerich, Switzerland. 
      mutzbauer@gmail.com
FAU - Staps, Enrico
AU  - Staps E
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PL  - Australia
TA  - Diving Hyperb Med
JT  - Diving and hyperbaric medicine
JID - 101282742
SB  - IM
MH  - Decompression Sickness/*therapy
MH  - Humans
MH  - *Hyperbaric Oxygenation
MH  - Indian Ocean Islands
MH  - Retrospective Studies
MH  - *Time-to-Treatment
MH  - Treatment Outcome
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - Decompression sickness
OT  - hyperbaric oxygen therapy
OT  - outcome
OT  - recreational diving
OT  - resort diving
OT  - scuba diving
EDAT- 2013/03/20 06:00
MHDA- 2013/04/24 06:00
CRDT- 2013/03/20 06:00
PHST- 2012/03/05 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2013/02/04 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2013/03/20 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2013/03/20 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2013/04/24 06:00 [medline]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Diving Hyperb Med. 2013 Mar;43(1):42-5.