On decompression sickness in divers

MacKay, Donald Eric (1966) On decompression sickness in divers. MD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Full text available as:
[thumbnail of 10647904.pdf] PDF
Download (55MB)

Abstract

Diving in an ancient activity and its main complication, decompression sickness, has been described for at least a century. Theoretically treatment of this injury should present no problems other than those of technique. It practice there are many unexplained points which cast doubt on the efficiency of current methods of treatment. Diving trials using air, or oxygen and helium breathing mixtures are described as well as submarine escape training without the use of self-contained breathing apparatus. Cases of decompression sickness occurring during the trials are described and classified as major or minor depending on the therapy used. It is suggested that this classification is less confusing than others as there is no implication of aetiological factors other than decompression. "Pulmonary Barotrauma" develops by a different mechanism and is considered separately from "Decompression Sickness". The progression from dissatisfaction with recommended therapeutic routines to the development of complementary ones is shown. The application of basic principles to cases arising under conditions not previously encountered, is described. Case notes of 136 cases treated by recompression are given as well as comments on 261 other cases. Proposed therapeutic routines and illustrated records of some of the very deep therapies are included in the Appendices.

Item Type: Thesis (MD)
Qualification Level: Doctoral
Additional Information: Adviser: J R Carr
Keywords: Medicine, Physiology
Date of Award: 1966
Depositing User: Enlighten Team
Unique ID: glathesis:1966-73384
Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
Date Deposited: 14 Jun 2019 08:56
Last Modified: 14 Jun 2019 08:56
URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/73384

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year