Editing Decompression sickness (section)

== Timeline ==
{{See also|History of decompression research and development|Dive computer#History}}
{{Expand section|developments since 1984: Value of deep stops challenged, effect on decompression stress shown to be generally unhelpful.|date=September 2022}}

* 1670: [[Robert Boyle]] demonstrated that a reduction in ambient pressure could lead to bubble formation in living tissue. This description of a bubble forming in the eye of a [[Viperidae|viper]] subjected to a near vacuum was the first recorded description of decompression sickness.{{r|acott1999-law}}
* 1769: [[Giovanni Battista Morgagni|Giovanni Morgagni]] described the [[post mortem]] findings of air in [[Cerebrum|cerebral]] [[Circulatory system|circulation]] and surmised that this was the cause of death.{{r|acott1999-hist}}
* 1840: [[Charles Pasley]], who was involved in the recovery of the sunken warship [[HMS Royal George (1756)|HMS ''Royal George'']], commented that, of those having made frequent dives, "not a man escaped the repeated attacks of [[rheumatism]] and cold".{{sfn|Marx|p=1903}}
* 1841: First documented case of decompression sickness, reported by a mining engineer who observed pain and muscle cramps among [[coal miner]]s working in [[shaft mining|mine shaft]]s air-pressurized to keep water out.{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}}
* 1854: Decompression sickness reported and one resulting death of [[caisson (engineering)|caisson]] workers on the [[Royal Albert Bridge]].{{r|albert}}
* 1867: Panamanian pearl divers using the revolutionary [[Sub Marine Explorer]] submersible repeatedly experienced "fever" due to rapid ascents. Continued sickness led to the vessel's abandonment in 1869.{{r|Delgado}}
* 1870: Bauer published outcomes of 25 paralyzed caisson workers.
** From 1870 to 1910, all prominent features were established. Explanations at the time included: cold or exhaustion causing reflex spinal cord damage; electricity cause by [[friction]] on compression; or organ [[:wikt:congestion|congestion]]; and vascular stasis caused by decompression.{{r|acott1999-hist}} [[File:Eads Bridge panorama 20090119.jpg|thumb|alt=A large arch bridge with several substantial support pillars sunk into a river|The Eads Bridge where 42 workers were injured by caisson disease]]
* 1871: The [[Eads Bridge]] in [[St Louis]] employed 352 compressed air workers including [[Alphonse Jaminet]] as the physician in charge. There were 30 seriously injured and 12 fatalities. Jaminet himself developed decompression sickness and his personal description was the first such recorded.{{r|Eads}} According to Divers Alert Network, in its Inert Gas Exchange, Bubbles and Decompression Theory course, this is where "bends" was first used to refer to DCS.<ref name="DAN" />
* 1872: The similarity between decompression sickness and [[iatrogenic]] air embolism as well as the relationship between inadequate decompression and decompression sickness was noted by Friedburg.{{r|acott1999-hist}} He suggested that intravascular gas was released by rapid decompression and recommended: slow compression and decompression; four-hour working shifts; limit to maximum pressure of 44.1 [[Pounds per square inch|psig]] (4 [[Atmosphere (unit)|atm]]); using only healthy workers; and recompression treatment for severe cases.
* 1873: Andrew Smith first used the term "caisson disease" describing 110 cases of decompression sickness as the physician in charge during construction of the [[Brooklyn Bridge]].{{r|Eads | Brooklyn}} The project employed 600 compressed air workers. Recompression treatment was not used. The project chief engineer [[Washington Roebling]] had caisson disease,{{r|Eads}} and endured the after-effects of the disease for the rest of his life. During this project, decompression sickness became known as "The Grecian Bends" or simply "the bends" because affected individuals characteristically bent forward at the hips: this is possibly reminiscent of a then popular women's fashion and dance maneuver known as the [[Grecian bend|Grecian Bend]].{{r|Eads | McCullogh}}
* 1890: During construction of the [[Downtown Hudson Tubes|Hudson River Tunnel]] contractor's agent [[Ernest William Moir]] pioneered the use of an [[airlock]] chamber for treatment.{{r|Hudson}}
* 1900: [[Leonard Erskine Hill|Leonard Hill]] used a frog model to prove that decompression causes bubbles and that recompression resolves them.{{r|acott1999-hist | Hill1912}} Hill advocated linear or uniform [[Dive profile|decompression profiles]].{{r|acott1999-hist | Hill1912}} This type of decompression is used today by [[Saturation diving|saturation divers]]. His work was financed by [[Augustus Siebe]] and the [[Siebe Gorman|Siebe Gorman Company]].{{r|acott1999-hist}}
* 1904: Tunnel building to and from Manhattan Island caused over 3,000 injuries and over 30 deaths which led to laws requiring PSI limits and decompression rules for "sandhogs" in the United States.{{r|Phillips1998}}
* 1904: Siebe and Gorman in conjunction with Leonard Hill developed and produced a closed bell in which a diver can be decompressed at the surface.{{r|Daily News}} [[File:Early diving recompression chamber at Broome, Western Australia.jpg|thumb|alt=A horizontal cylinder, just large enough to contain one person, with an hinged door clamp at one end|An early recompression chamber (door removed for public safety)]]
* 1908: "The Prevention of Compressed Air Illness" was published by [[John Scott Haldane|JS Haldane]], Boycott and Damant recommending [[Decompression stop|staged decompression]].{{r|Boycott}} These tables were accepted for use by the Royal Navy.{{r|acott1999-hist}}
* 1914–16: Experimental decompression chambers were in use on land and aboard ship.{{r|ABC news |Scott 1931 | Scott 1932}}
* 1924: The US Navy published the first standardized recompression procedure.{{r|USNrecompression}}
* 1930s: [[Albert R Behnke]] separated the symptoms of Arterial Gas Embolism (AGE) from those of DCS.{{r|acott1999-hist}}<!-- still looking for primary reference for precise date. Couldn't find it at http://archives.mc.duke.edu/uhmsbehnke_html -->
* 1935: Behnke et al. experimented with oxygen for recompression therapy.{{r|acott1999-hist | USNrecompression | Behnke1935}}
* 1937: Behnke introduced the "no-stop" decompression tables.{{r|acott1999-hist}}
* 1941: Altitude DCS is treated with hyperbaric oxygen for the first time.{{r|pmid889546}}
* 1944: US Navy published hyperbaric treatment tables "Long Air Recompression Table with Oxygen" and "Short Oxygen Recompression Table", both using 100% oxygen below 60 fsw (18 msw)
* 1945: Field results showed that the 1944 oxygen treatment table was not yet satisfactory, so a series of tests were conducted by staff from the Navy Medical Research Institute and the Navy Experimental Diving Unit using human subjects to verify and modify the treatment tables.<ref name="Berghage 1978" /><ref name="Van der Aue et al 1945" /> Tests were conducted using the 100-foot air-oxygen treatment table and the 100-foot air treatment table, which were found to be satisfactory. Other tables were extended until they produced satisfactory results. The resulting tables were used as the standard treatment for the next 20 years, and these tables and slight modifications were adopted by other navies and industry. Over time, evidence accumulated that the success of these table for severe decompression sickness was not very good.<ref name="Berghage 1978" />
* 1957: Robert Workman established a new method for calculation of decompression requirements (M-values).{{r|Workman57}}
* 1959: The "SOS Decompression Meter", a submersible mechanical device that simulated nitrogen uptake and release, was introduced.{{r|Carson}}<!-- I'll look for a better source, maybe some magazine article -->
* 1960: FC Golding ''et al.'' split the classification of DCS into Type 1 and 2.{{r|pmid13850667}}
* 1965: Low success rates of the existing US Navy treatment tables led to the development of the oxygen treatment table by Goodman and Workman in 1965, variations of which are still in general use as the definitive treatment for most cases of decompression sickness.<ref name="Berghage 1978" />
* 1965: LeMessurier and Hills published a paper on ''A thermodynamic approach arising from a study on Torres Strait diving techniques'' which suggests that decompression by conventional models results in bubble formation which is then eliminated by re-dissolving at the decompression stops.<ref name="LeMessurier and Hills"/>
* 1976: [[M.P. Spencer]] showed that the sensitivity of decompression testing is increased by the use of ultrasonic methods which can detect mobile venous bubbles before symptoms of DCS emerge.<ref name="pmid1249001" />
* 1982: Paul K Weathersby, Louis D Homer and Edward T Flynn introduce [[survival analysis]] into the study of decompression sickness.{{r|pmid6490468}}
* 1983: Orca produced the "EDGE", a personal dive computer, using a [[microprocessor]] to calculate nitrogen absorption for twelve tissue compartments.{{r|Carson}}
* 1984: [[Albert A Bühlmann]] released his book "Decompression–Decompression Sickness", which detailed his [[Bühlmann decompression algorithm|deterministic model]] for calculation of decompression schedules.{{r|buhlmann1984}}
* 1989: The advent of dive computers had not been widely accepted,<ref name="aaus" /> but after the 1989 AAUS Dive computer workshop published a group consensus list of recommendations for the use of dive computers in scientific diving, most opposition to dive computers dissipated, numerous new models were introduced, the technology dramatically improved and dive computers became standard scuba diving equipment. Over time, some of the recommendations became irrelevant as the technology improved.
* 2000: HydroSpace Engineering developed the HS Explorer, a Trimix computer with optional P<sub>O<sub>2</sub></sub> monitoring and twin decompression algorithms, Buhlmann, and the first full real time RGBM implementation.<ref name="HSE Manual" />
* 2001: The US Navy approved the use of Cochran NAVY decompression computer with the VVAL 18 [[Thalmann algorithm]] for Special Warfare operations.<ref name="Butler and Southerland 2001" /><ref name="Butler" />
* By 2010: The use of dive computers for decompression status tracking was virtually ubiquitous among recreational divers and widespread in scientific diving.<ref name="Azzopardi and Sayer 2010" />
* 2018: A group of diving medical experts issued a consensus guideline on pre-hospital decompression sickness management and concluded that in-water recompression is a valid and effective emergency treatment where a chamber is not available, but is only appropriate in groups that have been trained and are competent in the skills required for IWR and have appropriate equipment.<ref name="Mitchell et al 2018" />
* 2023: The animal rights group, [[People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals|PETA]], says that it has successfully lobbied the [[United States Navy|Navy]] to end a pair of studies that involved subjecting sheep to conditions that simulated surfacing quickly from a great depth, causing them pain and sometimes leaving the animals paralyzed or dead.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Toropin |first=Konstantin |date=February 1, 2023 |title=Navy Ends 'Gruesome' Testing on Sheep After PETA Protests |work=Military.com |url=https://www.military.com/daily-news/2023/02/01/navy-ends-gruesome-testing-sheep-after-peta-protests.html |access-date=February 3, 2023}}</ref>