Medicine can provide the opportunity to combine hobbies with work. With an interest in diving, I wanted to find out more about dive medicine. The team at the London Diving Chamber was kind enough to let me spend the week with them observing the role of a diving and hyperbaric physician. Hyperbaric medicine is most widely known for its use in the treatment of decompression illness (DCI). This encompasses a range of symptoms observed in a person who has been exposed to a high-pressure environment and then returns to a lower-pressure one. DCI includes both arterial gas embolism (ACE) and decompression sickness (DCS). AGE occurs due to the expansion of gas and the resulting physical injury to the lungs, leading to the release of gas into the arterial system. DCS occurs as a result of venous bubbles forming in the tissues.
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