Diving and Subaquatic Medicine

This text is aimed at doctors or paramedics who are called upon to minister to the medical needs of those divers who venture on or under the sea. In particular, it is intended for the diving clinician, the physician responsible for scuba divers and the diving instructor who needs a reference.

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This book is written for doctors and paramedics who are called upon to minister to the medical needs of those divers who venture on or under the sea. Diving accidents are now better defined, investigated and treated than 20 years ago. The book addresses the diving clinician, the physician responsible for scuba divers, the diving paramedic and the exceptional diving instructor who needs a factual reference text. It does not encompass the needs of specialized deep or saturation diving units, operational or research groups, hyperbaric oxygen or submarine physicians, but there are review chapters on these subjects. The recent extension of diving as a sport and as a commercial activity has led to the bewildered medical practitioner being confronted with diving problems in which he has received little or no formal training. Even doctors experienced in diving may find themselves in a similar situation - without a comprehensive clinical text available. This book encompasses the range of diving disorders exhibited by both the amateur scuba diver and the professional deep sea diver. It presents all aspects of diving medicine from the ancient history to the latest research.
Each medical disorder is dealt with from an historical, aetiological, clinical, pathological, preventative and therapeutic perspective. Summaries, case histories and revision aids are interspersed throughout. For the doctor who is not familiar with the world of diving, introductory chapters on physics, physiology, equipment and the diving environments have been included.