Management of a complex diving accident.
After the accidental ascent of a diving bell from 80 m, one diver died from pulmonary barotrauma and the other-though grossly ill-survived. After recompression therapy, this diver was tetraplegic with evidence of patchy microcirculatory damage of brain, cord, liver, kidneys, and gut. All systems eventually returned to normal, except the spinal cord, mainly because of the post-recompression phase of management, in which pharmacological doses of steroids, hyperbaric oxygen, and dextran were used. Although function returned in the upper limbs, the diver remained paraplegic.
D000059:Accidents; D000328:Adult; D001810:Blood Volume; D003665:Decompression Sickness / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D003911:Dextrans / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004242:Diving; D006801:Humans; D006931:Hyperbaric Oxygenation; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D008775:Methylprednisolone / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012131:Respiratory Insufficiency / Q000628:therapy; D013118:Spinal Cord Diseases / Q000209:etiology
D003911:Dextrans; D008775:Methylprednisolone