ABSTRACT
Bone necrosis is the non-specific term used to describe the radiographic appearance of a special sort of damage to bone. It has many causes one of which is related to changing the pressure of the environment, i.e. (a) exposure to compressed air, (b) diving and possibly (c) ascending in an aeroplane to altitude. The Americans call it dysbaric osteonecrosis. In the compressed air industry it was originally known as caisson disease of bone but more recently by the men as ‘bone rot’.
