title: On beginning a second century of decompression sickness research: where are we and what comes next?
abstract: It is just 100 years since the publication of J. S. Haldane's groundbreaking work on the prevention of decompression sickness (DCS). While we still do not know the exact mechanisms that underlie DCS, probabilistic modeling now allows good estimation of risk for a given set of conditions, although reduction of risk to zero remains impractical. Unfortunately, individual monitoring for intravascular bubbles has not proven a good predictor of symptomatic DCS. Current research aims to identify underlying biological factors that, once understood, may allow development of preventive measures and treatment that go beyond recompression. With one or more drugs to combat DCS, we should be able to eliminate the residual risk, extend dive profiles beyond current limits, and rescue people who have exceeded the limits and taken a hit.
authors.affiliation: skayar00@comcast.net
authors.forename: Susan R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Kayar
mesh_terms: D000337:Aerospace Medicine; D015415:Biomarkers; D003665:Decompression Sickness / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000628:therapy; D004242:Diving / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers