Reference for diving injuries

[Missy99]

Hi everyone,

Just want to share a medical reference for diving injuries. Chapter 284 of http://www.merckhomeedition.com has info. on diving injuries such as effects of high pressure, air compression and expansion, air embolism, & decompression sickness. And the site is interactive & has multimedia features which can help you understand the info. I’m sure you’ll find it to be helpful.

Marissa

 

[Dr Deco]

Dear Readers:

Under the section on “AIR EMBOLISM”, there appears this quote;
[sp] Air embolism can occur even in a swimming pool if a person has any external source of air, takes a breath under water, and doesn't exhale while coming up.

At least one sad event has occurred of which I am aware when children were playing with a bucket in a swimming pool. Regrettably the child died. The kids held this bucket down ( only about three feet ) and took a breath out of it. Since the bucket was underwater, the air inside it was also compressed, if only to a pressure of three fsw. In the course of playing, one child took a breathe and held it to the surface - - only 3 feet, remember. The child sustained a lung overpressure accident (pulmonary barotrauma) and became unconscious. This was because the expanding air entered the arterial bloodstream and moved on to embolize the brain.

The child was rushed to the hospital. Because no mention was made of the bucket and the pool (or perhaps no one realized at the time), it was treated as a drowning accident, and the child was not given hyperbaric recompression therapy (assuming it was available locally).

The tragic end of this is that many people are not aware that the theoretical limit for lung rupture accidents is about 1-½ feet of water. When it is said that the shallowest 10 feet are the most dangerous, that is not a joke. Many people believe that because children (or adults) are allowed to kick around with compressed gas breathing equipment, it is fine as long as it is in the shallow water. That is actually not correct.
__________
Dr. Deco :doctor:

 

[cottim]

Missy99,

Thanks for the ref and URL.

My paper edition of the Merck Manual has this on chapter 285. One chapter must be missing or displaced in the Internet edition. (I double checked the WWW edition and your ref is correct).

Anyway, this may be helpful. Thanks again.
Bye for now