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Neurological complications of underwater diving
Affiliations- Chair & Department of Neurology, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznan, Poland
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Abstract
The diver's nervous system is extremely sensitive to high ambient pressure, which is the sum of atmospheric and hydrostatic pressure. Neurological complications associated with diving are a difficult diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. They occur in both commercial and recreational diving and are connected with increasing interest in the sport of diving. Hence it is very important to know the possible complications associated with this kind of sport. Complications of the nervous system may result from decompression sickness, pulmonary barotrauma associated with cerebral arterial air embolism (AGE), otic and sinus barotrauma, high pressure neurological syndrome (HPNS) and undesirable effect of gases used for breathing. The purpose of this review is to discuss the range of neurological symptoms that can occur during diving accidents and also the role of patent foramen ovale (PFO) and internal carotid artery (ICA) dissection in pathogenesis of stroke in divers.
Abstract
The diver's nervous system is extremely sensitive to high ambient pressure, which is the sum of atmospheric and hydrostatic pressure. Neurological complications associated with diving are a difficult diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. They occur in both commercial and recreational diving and are connected with increasing interest in the sport of diving. Hence it is very important to know the possible complications associated with this kind of sport. Complications of the nervous system may result from decompression sickness, pulmonary barotrauma associated with cerebral arterial air embolism (AGE), otic and sinus barotrauma, high pressure neurological syndrome (HPNS) and undesirable effect of gases used for breathing. The purpose of this review is to discuss the range of neurological symptoms that can occur during diving accidents and also the role of patent foramen ovale (PFO) and internal carotid artery (ICA) dissection in pathogenesis of stroke in divers.
Keywords
Diving, Neurologic decompression illness, High pressure neurological syndrome, Pulmonary barotrauma, Patent foramen ovale
About this articleTitle
Neurological complications of underwater diving
Journal
Neurologia i Neurochirurgia Polska
Issue
Article type
Review Article
Pages
45-51
Page views
596
Article views/downloads
1642
DOI
10.1016/j.pjnns.2014.11.004
Bibliographic record
Neurol Neurochir Pol 2015;49(1):45-51.
Keywords
Diving
Neurologic decompression illness
High pressure neurological syndrome
Pulmonary barotrauma
Patent foramen ovale
Authors
Justyna Rosińska
Maria Łukasik
Wojciech Kozubski
