Is decompression sickness an inflammatory disease? - webinar

This Sunday, 27 March, there will be an interesting webinar which will explore the topic of decompression sickness with its theme.

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The special guest of the meeting will be well known in the diving environment Professor Simon Mitchell. During the meeting the discussion will revolve around the question – Is decompression illness an inflammatory disease? The webinar will start at 18.00 SAST (17.00 CEST) and is free to attend.

Introduction

It has long been thought that decompression sickness (DCS) is a condition in which bubbles formed from dissolved gas in the blood or tissues after ascent from a compressed gas dive are the primary vector of injury. The existence of such bubbles and their potential ability to cause or contribute to at least some of the symptoms of DCS have been largely proven. However, some uncertainties remain.

Although the risk of DCS symptoms correlates with the number of venous blisters detected after diving by Doppler or echocardiography, the correlation is not as strong as would be expected if blisters were the only factor contributing to tissue damage. There are several potential explanations for this situation. Including the possibility that a variably expressed secondary inflammatory process may contribute to the clinical picture.

It has been known for some time that intravascular vesicles, or the vascular endothelial damage they can cause, can activate formed blood and plasma protein elements. There is evidence that these activations contribute to the development of some of the symptoms of DCS. Similarly, there has been recent interest in the role of intravascular proinflammatory microparticles (circulating fragments of formed blood elements) in the pathophysiology of DCS. As there is some evidence that microparticles can induce deleterious effects relevant to DCS pathophysiology. There has also been controversial speculation that microparticles may be the root cause of some DCS symptoms. In this presentation, the presenters will discuss the role of vesicles and inflammatory processes in the pathophysiology of DCS.

Prof. Simon Mitchell

Simon is an anaesthesiologist and diving physician. He has over 160 scientific publications and chapters in books. He is co-author of the fifth edition “Diving and Subaquatic Medicine” and the chapter on hyperbaric and diving medicine in the last three editions “Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine”. He has twice served as vice president of UHMS. In 2010 he received the Behnke Award for his contribution to the science of diving and hyperbaric medicine. He works as an anaesthetist at Auckland City Hospital and is Professor of Anaesthesiology at the University of Auckland. He is on duty in a diving emergency room in New Zealand. As of 2019, he is the editor-in-chief of the journal “Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine Journal”.

Simon has had a long career in sport, scientific, commercial and military diving. He was the first to dive and identify three historically important wrecks in Australia and New Zealand. One in 2002, which was the deepest wreck dive made at the time. In 2006 he was elected to Fellowship of the Explorers’ Club of New York. In 2015, he was named DAN Rolex Diver of the Year. His most recent expeditions include the exploration of Pearse Resurgence cave (New Zealand) in February 2020. A project to collect arterial blood samples from an elite freediver at 200′ altitude in January 2021. And the search for a shipwreck in the subantarctic in February 2022.

Registration for the free webinar – Is decompression sickness an inflammatory disease? can be found under this link.