CLINICAL CASES   Free access

Minerva Anestesiologica 1999 July-August;65(7-8):589-92

Copyright © 2000 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: Italian

NMR contribution to the knowledge and treatment of neurologic sequelae in decompression sickness

Bianchi A., Cavallo R., Imeneo M. R., Manno E., Riva M., Vacca R., Vergano M.

Azienda Ospedaliera S. Giovanni Battista - Torino, Dipartimento di Discipline Medico-Chirurgiche, II Servizio Universitario di Anestesia e Rianimazione

The case of a decompression sickness in woman, diving to 26 meter depth is reported. The patient was helped by instructor's computer (error!) and she presented risk factors for embolic disease (obesity, smoke, estroprogestinic therapy). She presented with many symptoms of decompression sickness during immersion and during re-ascent (headache, vertigoes and paresthesias). She was not treated on the place of incident, but only 36 hours later at our center of hyperbaric medicine. Her Magnetic Resonance imaging showed hyperintensity lesions of white matter.