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Neurologic presentation of decompression sickness and air embolism in sport divers

National Diving Accident Network, F.G. Hall Laboratory, and the Department of Anesthesia (Dr. Dick) and the Department of Neurology (Dr. Massey), Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC.

In a retrospective study of scuba divers with neurologic injuries, we found that mild symptoms were common. Seventy divers had decompression sickness, most often with paresthesias or numbness, rarely with paresis. Thirty-nine divers had air embolism that often caused unconsciousness or mild symptoms of cerebral injury. Many divers with neurologic decompression sickness gave histories of dives that were within conventional limits, and many with air embolism gave no history of breath-holding during ascent. Mild symptoms sometimes regressed spontaneously. Recompression delays were responsible for poor responses to therapy.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Dick, Department of Neurology, University Hospitals, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland. OH 44106.

Funded in part by grants from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, the Undersea Medical Society, and gifts from the sport-diving community.

Accepted for publication September 5, 1984.

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