Dysbarism and Diving Emergencies
Environmental Emergencies and Injuries in Nature, NOVA Publications , ss.89-105, 2022
- Yayın Türü: Kitapta Bölüm / Araştırma Kitabı
- Basım Tarihi: 2022
- Yayınevi: NOVA Publications
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.89-105
- Anahtar Kelimeler: barotrauma, decompression, gas embolism
- Sağlık Bilimleri Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
By nature, the human body did not evolve to live in water or to spend a long time in water. But for thousands of years, humans have been benefiting from the possibilities of the sea for feeding, hunting, and sheltering. Diving activities involve some risks in terms of health. Underwater has a structure that does not contain air that the human body can breathe, and the pressure increases as the depth increases. This causes the volume of gases to decrease. As you go deeper, the volume of gases decreases due to pressure, and this means that inhalation is more and more compressed, which is why diving is a challenging activity in itself. The underwater environment contains various difficulties due to its natural structure. We cannot speak underwater, we cannot see because the light decreases as we go deeper, we cannot breathe, and we may experience many medical problems due to high pressure. Injuries can be minimized when underwater sports are performed by the rules of physics and with appropriate training. Dysbarism is any adverse medical condition resulting from changes in ambient pressure. If these changes in pressure occur at a rate or time that exceeds the body’s capacity to adapt safely, certain medical problems can occur. In an underwater environment, the pressure increases linearly with depth. Barotrauma, on the other hand, is a clinical problem that occurs during volume changes in gas-filled organs, which we usually see after moving quickly or descending too deep during underwater descents and ascents without complying with the adaptation mechanisms. Arterial gas embolism happens when a diver is advancing to the surface underwater, after the panicked, uncontrolled use of the BC, etc. If the lungs make a sudden rise when they are full of air after a situation like this, the air in the lungs expands with decreasing pressure. Damage occurs if a tensile force occurs above the elastance level that the lung alveoli can withstand. In the injured alveoli, air enters the pulmonary venous circulation. Circulating air moves into the left atrium. If the air that enters the systemic circulation by following the left ventricle and aorta paths disrupts the circulation in the microvascular bed, clinical findings occur in the affected divers. Usually, air bubbles travel through the carotid and vertebral arteries to the brain. When the diver starts to rise after the bottom time, the pressure will decrease and the amount of nitrogen dissolved in the blood and tissues will decrease in the same parallel. This cleaning process is not immediate but takes place at a certain speed through the lungs. This process, which we call the decompression stage, may differ from person to person. Therefore, waiting should be allowed for certain periods during the rise to clear the dissolved nitrogen in the blood and tissues after this pressure-nitrogen relationship. If the diver does not comply with these times and makes a rapid rise, the dissolved nitrogen turns into gas form with the effect of decreasing pressure and causes functional and circulatory problems due to mechanical effects in whichever organ or system.