Hyperbaric Chamber Saves Diver Who Suffered Decompression Sickness in Tizimín, Yucatán

Tizimín, Yucatán — A 55-year-old fisherman survived a serious decompression injury thanks to treatment at the IMSS General Subzone Hospital No. 5 in Tizimín, where doctors used a hyperbaric chamber kept on site for workers who make their living at sea.

The diver was rushed in as an emergency case after suffering a decompression accident while working in the waters off the Yucatán coast. On arrival he was drowsy, had a severe headache and spots across his abdomen, and could not walk.

IMSS Yucatán said decompression sickness is a potentially disabling or fatal condition that occurs when nitrogen dissolved in the blood forms bubbles because of a rapid ascent to the surface.

“We had a patient who had been diving at a depth of 20 to 24 meters, and he came up suddenly, which caused a problem known as decompression sickness and carbon monoxide poisoning,” said Juan Carlos Tec Tun, a doctor assigned to the hospital’s Hyperbaric Medicine area.

The hospital’s multidisciplinary team evaluated the patient immediately, stabilized him and started the protocol for placing him in the hyperbaric chamber.

“This is a patient who can deteriorate at any moment, so the patient is stabilized and managed in the hyperbaric chamber. Fortunately, halfway through the treatment the patient showed 50 percent improvement, and by the end of the treatment we had achieved a 99 percent recovery,” the specialist added.

During the hyperbaric treatment, the patient breathed 100 percent oxygen in a pressurized environment. The process gradually shrinks the nitrogen bubbles in the body, restores proper blood circulation and promotes oxygenation of damaged tissue.

“Little by little I felt relief; when I went in they had to stay with me because I couldn’t handle the mask on my own. The pain started to go away and I began to have mobility in my body,” said the patient, Christian, who fishes in eastern Yucatán.

Christian has since been discharged with an optimal prognosis to gradually return to work.