Diving And Decompression Sickness Treatment Practices Among Hawaii's Diving Fishermen

Details

• Personal Author:
  Farm, Frank P. ; Hayashi, Edwin M. ; Beckman, Edward L.
• NOAA Program & Office:
  Sea Grant ; OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research)
• Sea Grant Program:
  HAWAU (Hawaii Sea Grant)
• Description:
  A survey was conducted of 24 diving fishermen who had collectively made over 250,000 dives, with each averaging over 500 dives per year. On an average day they made 5 to 8 dives ranging in depth from 140 to 350 feet. All divers interviewed had experienced at least one incident of decompression sickness (DCS), treated by immediate in-water recompression. Some divers reported DCS symptoms as often as one in three diving days. In-water recompression relieved or cured the disease in all but 65 incidents; follow-up treatment in a recompression chamber was sought 14 times. In the remaining incidents, the divers elected to endure the remaining pain until it disappeared, usually in a day or two. Refinements to in-water recompression on air have been recommended, including the use of the Australian in-water oxygen treatment, or the Hawaiian in-water recompression schedule using a combination of air and oxygen.
• Keywords:
  Decompression (Physiology) Decompression Sickness Deep Diving Fishers Physiological Aspects Decompression Sickness Deep Diving Physiological Aspects
• Series:
  UNIHI-​SEAGRANT-TP
• Sea Grant Document Number:
  HAWAU-T-86-001
• Document Type:
  Technical Report
• Funding:
  Grant no. NA81AA-D-00070
• Rights Information:
  Public Domain
• Compliance:
  Library
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:b632c734166307e51c198935ad63ed72d3953b2e03b8e0b2b43816ca1fa25695
• Download URL:
  https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/40253/noaa_40253_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 960.02 KB ]