Aseptic necrosis in caisson workers: a new set of decompression tables

There is a high incidence of aseptic necrosis and decompression sickness among caisson workers due to inadequate decompression using the current OSHA decompression tables (1-7). Because of this, a new set of tables--Autodec III-O2--was developed which more effectively eliminates nitrogen from the body and, therefore, should decrease the incidence of both bends and aseptic necrosis. The Autodec III-O2 schedule's superiority was statistically significant at a level of 0.08 compared to the OSHA table. It is our conclusion that OSHA should adopt the Autodec III-O2 schedule as a replacement for the current decompression tables.