Bends
Full Name: The Bends
Nickname/Alias: decompression sickness, caisson disease, chokes, compressed air illness, gas bubble disease
Details:
The ‘bends’ is the physiological response of the body when it goes rapidly from high to low atmospheric pressure. This occurs during scuba diving at great depths, while piloting a non-pressurized plane, or during an astronaut’s activity at a space station.
As a diver inhales nitrogen under pressure, it dissolves in the body. However, if outside pressure decreases rapidly (as happens if a diver ascends quickly) the nitrogen does not have time to dissolve. It collects in tissue and forms bubbles in joints and blood vessels. These bubbles block oxygen flow and cause pain, weakness, and damage to blood vessel linings.
This phenomenon was first studied and named by French physiologist Paul [discovered by] Bert*.
Bends is rarely fatal but is serious. People with bends are transported to a hyperbaric chamber quickly and most patients respond favorably. The chamber is a large cylindrical device that first recompresses the patient, and then very slowly re-decompresses them. Inside the chamber, 100% oxygen is breathed, which washes the nitrogen from the body.
Oneliner: The bends
Bibliography:
- Sport Diver Manual : advanced open water activities, volume II. Jeppesen Sanderson, Inc. 1980. pp. 8-16, 8-28.
- Decompression Sickness. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved October 3, 2003, from Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. http://search.eb.com/eb/article?eu=30192.
- “Paul Bert.” World of Health. Gale Group, 2000. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: The Gale Group. 2003. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRc.