A model of spinal cord dysbarism to study delayed treatment: I. Producing dysbarism

This paper reports the development of a model of spinal cord decompression sickness (DCS) which lends itself to studies of treatment in anesthetized dogs. Models tried early in this development could be used in the future to study blow-up and cerebral decompression sickness. We found that a dive with a bottom time of 12-15 min at 300 ft breathing air and decompressed in 5.5 min produced a high incidence of cord DCS, as diagnosed by changes in spinal evoked potentials (SEP). Furthermore the animals could generally be sustained on the surface using intravenous fluids, without going into shock, before treatment by compression was begun. The findings are discussed in the light of previous studies.