Primary Causes of Drowning and Near Drowning in Scuba Diving

In brief: Two scuba divers who were semiconscious when retrieved from the water of a training pool were found to have different primary injuries that required distinctly different treatments. Near drowning in a swimmer or scuba diver should alert a physician to look beyond the simple immersion accident to discover if an underlying disorder may have been the cause. In a scuba diver, the differential diagnosis must be extended to include decompression sickness, cerebral air embolism, pneumothorax, and carbon monoxide poisoning. Assessment and treatment-perhaps with hyperbaric oxygen therapy-must be carried out at once, both to resuscitate the diver and maximize the chances for a complete recovery.