DCS an autoimmune disease? Article I saw..

[nolatom]

I saw this in a maritime industry newsletter.

Don’t know if this is old news or new news. So either way, here ‘tis:

Study: Decompression Sickness May be Caused by Faulty Immune Response

 

[lowwall]

Terrible headline. Correlation is not causation.

Edit:. Here's the journal article: Acute Effects on the Human Peripheral Blood Transcriptome of Decompression Sickness Secondary to Scuba Diving

As I suspected, the headline linked by the OP was completely wrong. There are sections titles in the study that make it very clear that DCS causes an immune response, not that an autoimmune response causes DCS:
DCS Triggers Activation of PI3K-Akt, TLR Pathways, and Immediate Early Genes and DCS Induces Activation of Antioxidant Defense Mechanisms.

 

[lowflyer]

Terrible headline. Correlation is not causation.

Edit:. Here's the journal article: Acute Effects on the Human Peripheral Blood Transcriptome of Decompression Sickness Secondary to Scuba Diving

As I suspected, the headline linked by the OP was completely wrong. There are sections titles in the study that make it very clear that DCS causes an autoimmune response, not that an autoimmune response causes DCS:
DCS Triggers Activation of PI3K-Akt, TLR Pathways, and Immediate Early Genes and DCS Induces Activation of Antioxidant Defense Mechanisms.

I submit that it is an immune response, not an autoimmune condition. There is a difference between these terms.

 

[lowwall]

I submit that it is an immune response, not an autoimmune condition. There is a difference between these terms.

Good point. I'll edit my post.

 

[100days-a-year]

I don't see how the physics of a gas coming out of a saturated tissue, then expanding and causing direct physical damage can be mistaken for either. A gas coming out of suspension would have same effect on any material living or dead, organic or not.

 

[lowwall]

They were looking at skin bends, so there is definitely an immune response component to the symptoms.

 

[Subcooled]

I don't see how the physics of a gas coming out of a saturated tissue, then expanding and causing direct physical damage can be mistaken for either. A gas coming out of suspension would have same effect on any material living or dead, organic or not.

But your immune systems might consider those bubbles "not belonging here" and triggering a response to kill the bubbles in your bloodstream.
As far as I know (and I am not a doctor) this immune reaction may actually worsen the situation.
If you catch flu you get tired. If you get DCS you get tired (the mildest symptom).

 

[Miyaru]

From the article:

No medical test is available that can reveal whether you have the disease or not. Until now. The discovery is the first step in developing a blood test that can make it easier to check if someone has DCS.

Since when is DCS classified as a disease?
Is this a translation error, or is it really classified as a disease these days?

 

[scubaozy]

From the article:

Since when is DCS classified as a disease?
Is this a translation error, or is it really classified as a disease these days?

I think from the very beginning, I am sure caisson disease it familiar term ;-)

 

[chillyinCanada]

Just as an aside, the majority of media publications have a different person create the headlines, thus, often a dissonance.