New Medcare hyperbaric chamber.

A new emergency service is born in Valencia that will prevent the loss of life that was previously charged by underwater activity in the Valencian Community

Accidents in diving practice happen, in a few seconds you have to make quick and vital decisions for the life of the diver. Since the summer of 2019, the Medcare Medical Center offers an emergency service to all the diving centers of the Valencian Community, the service consists of, once the emergency call has been received from the dive center, a medicalized ambulance with medical personnel will move to the place where the accident has occurred, where the affected person is picked up to make it arrive as quickly as possible to the Medcare Medical Center, where they will give him the appropriate emergency treatment in his new hyperbaric chamber. During the trip in the medical vehicle, the necessary preventive measures are taken to give oxygen to the injured person until they reach the hyperbaric chamber where they will be subjected to a pressure of up to 3 bars to recover the oxygen from their blood and save their life.

As the diver submerges, there is an increase in pressure due to the volume of water that falls on him. This pressure affects the organism and is one of the most important risks to take into account in the dives, as it can cause the diver the decompression sickness, one of the most common causes for diving accidents together with the bad ones atmospheric conditions, excessive confidence and inadequate physical capacity.

The medical director of Medcare, Dr Eugenio Tejerina explains: “decompression sickness occurs as a consequence that nitrogen, dissolved in the blood and tissues, due to high pressure, forms bubbles when the pressure decreases. Symptoms may include fatigue and pain in muscles and joints. Being in the most serious types a symptomatology similar to those of stroke, respiratory distress and pain, says Tejerina.

This occurs because the diver breathes air, composed mainly of oxygen and compressed nitrogen, so more molecules of these gases are inspired in each breath. But since our body uses oxygen continuously, usually the excess molecules of this gas do not accumulate, but the excess of nitrogen molecules if it accumulates in the body.

As the external pressure decreases, the diver ascends to the surface, the nitrogen that has not been able to expire increases its molecule forming bubbles of blood and tissues, which can expand and damage the tissues or clog the blood vessels of several organs

The risk of suffering from this disease is aggravated by many factors such as: heart defects, form permeable ova, atrial septum defect, cold water, effort, fatigue, immersion time, fly after immersion, obesity, advanced age.

Normally the excess of nitrogen is still dissolved in the body tissues at least 12 hours after each dive, hence the precaution to be taken in the activities to be carried out after the dive.

After immersion, calibrating the body in a hyperbaric chamber is the best way to ensure that excessive nitrogen has been completely removed. This camera subjects the diver to the pressure that the doctor prescribes in order to gradually reduce excess nitrogen bubbles in the blood, thus avoiding: Tingling, pain in arms and legs, headache, dizziness, or even difficulty to breathe; symptoms that usually appear a couple of hours after the dive or in the last stages of the ascent in severe cases.

Medcare starts up the first emergency service of hyperbaric medicine, with doctors specialized in this type of medicine. Dr. Tejerina explains that the procedure to provide extra oxygen to our body is very simple. “The patient is introduced into a pressurized chamber between 60 and 90 minutes, depending on the patient, the atmospheric pressure is gradually increased until reaching three bars, this will increase the oxygen in the tissues because it arrives in such tiny molecules that access to all corners of the body. “Tejerina warns that there are cameras that do not reach 1.5 atmospheres, and there you can not talk about hyperbaric medicine.