Chronic decompression sickness and its diagnosis

Clinical pattern of the chronic decompression sickness is non-specific and there is objective difficulty to reveal the cause-and-effect relationship between the diver’s health condition and his professional activity in each case. This problem is not only obstructing necessary medical and social aid to the patient but also provides the light-minded relation to the preventive measures organization before diving long-term adverse health effects. A clinical case of professional pathology diagnosed in the diver. The patient served in 1993-2000 in Armed Forces of the Russian Federation as diver-welder, during this period no active complains were demonstrated, as he told, for saving diver’s qualification. In 2000 the patient retired for social and economic reasons and was accepted as a healthy person by a military medical expert commission. Until 2007 he was working by speciality not related to increased pressure terms. In 2007 after medical expert commission examination, the patient continued his work as a civilian personnel diver of the Russian Federation Ministry of Defense, during this time the clear relation between pain syndrome and diving episodes was detected. The patient was self-treated with analgesics and heat physical therapy with unstable effect. In 2014 because of increased lower back pain syndrome, he turned to medical aid. In2015 the diagnosis of chronic decompression sickness was established. Pathogenesis of chronic decompression sickness in not enough investigated, including methodical reasons. Prophylactic measures existing in routine medical diving practice are aimed only for acute non-specific and specific diver’s pathologies and this fact doesn’t favour special attention of the medicals for long-term post-diving effects. It provides to the low efficiency of measures for saving divers, aquanauts and caisson workers professional suitability despite known cases of their health disorders during work experience.

diver, chronic decompression sickness, decompression gas formation, clinical case, medical care, bone tissue, diving medicine, specific diving disease