ABSTRACT
Dysbaric osteonecrosis (DON) has increasingly become a public health problem recognised by scientists of many countries, but the delayed occurrence of the disease in patients who left hyperbaric work has not received sufficient attention. From 1962 to 1988, 1140 hyperbaric workers were examined in our hospital. Of these, 137 workers who left hyperbaric work were followed up. We found 17 patients developed DON at 4 to 19 years, an incidence of 12.4%. These patients had one or more of the following characteristics: (1) decompression not performed according to the decompression table after hyperbaric work: (2) acute decompression sickness not treated completely: (3) most of the patients were found to have had bone lesions before, and new lesions tended to occur more easily at other spots in these patients: (4) most of these patients drank no alcohol. Therefore, the authors recommend that decompression after hyperbaric work be adhered to more stringently: acute decompression sickness should be treated completely: dysbaric osteonecrosis be treated actively: X-ray evaluation of bones and joints after leaving hyperbaric work should be made once every 5 years, especially for those who have a long hyperbaric work experience, high pressure exposure, no-stop decompression or irregular decompression after diving, and acute decompression sickness. Examinations should be every year for suspicious lesions.
