A Short Report on Decompression Sickness Incidents in Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Abstract

Objectives: Due to presence of extensively fascinating coral reef ecosystem in the continental shelf of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, people from all over the world visit these islands of India to indulge in recreational diving. An increased participation figure has also elevated the number of divers at risk for Decompression Sickness (DCS). Despite this, no scientific data are available on DCS incidents from India. Present study is aimed to evaluate the DCS incidents reported in these islands, treatment provided, and the outcome of the treatment. An attempt has also been made to calculate the approximate frequency of DCS in comparison to the participation figure. Methods: Study design is retrospective data analyses of a recompression chamber. Naval Diving Unit Port Blair has the only active decompression chamber available in the islands, and Govind Ballabh Pant Hospital Port Blair was used to collect information on DCS incidents that occurred during the mentioned period. Due to lack of authenticated generalized documents of divers’ health history and dive logs, the scanty information was gathered from the dive centres on the basis of personal interviews/communications among the SCUBA diving instructors. Results: A total of nine cases were reported during the span of last four and half years, and thus approximate frequency of DCS in Andamans was 0.2/10000 divers year. All of the patients recovered completely after receiving the Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT), with no residual symptoms. Conclusions: Incident rate of DCS in Andamans is lower than that in many other parts of the world; possible reason could be under-reporting of less severe DCS cases. During the study period, the number of DCS type II incidents presented for the treatment was higher than that of DCS type I incidents. HBOT proved a complete success in treating DCS cases in the island.