Hyperbaric Chamber

A pressurized medical chamber used to treat decompression sickness and gas embolism by recompressing the diver and administering oxygen.

A hyperbaric chamber is a sealed vessel that can be pressurized well above surface pressure, used to treat decompression sickness and arterial gas embolism. Recompressing the patient shrinks the bubbles causing the symptoms, and breathing pure oxygen at pressure accelerates washout of the inert gas while delivering oxygen to injured tissue. Treatments follow standardized tables, most commonly variations of US Navy Treatment Table 6, and typically last several hours, sometimes over multiple sessions.

For divers, the practical questions are where the nearest operational chamber is and how to reach it, since chambers are unevenly distributed and remote destinations may be many hours away. This is exactly what the DAN hotline helps coordinate, and what dive insurance is designed to pay for, because chamber treatment and medical evacuation are expensive. Until the chamber, first aid is high-concentration oxygen, fluids, and keeping the diver lying down and monitored.

Chambers are also used preventively and industrially, from treating carbon monoxide poisoning to surface decompression for commercial divers. Some dive regions list chamber locations in briefings; it is worth knowing the answer before you need it. In popular diving regions the local chamber is often part of the community, running tours and diver awareness days, and some accept voluntary contributions from visiting divers that help keep the facility ready.