Clinical and experimental evidence for the use of hypothermia in decompression sickness

During construction of the Coxwell sewer tunnel and subway in Toronto, a number of patients with decompression sickness failed to respond completely to repressurization alone. After the addition of hypothermia, significant improvement occurred. These observations stimulated an experimental study in which 36 rabbits were exposed to 60 or 70 p.s.i. for 1 h. After sudden decompression over 70 s, they were either observed, cooled in air at 0 degrees C, or cooled in water at 3 degrees C. Immersion in water significantly reduced the mortality rate, while cooling in air did not. These experimental results supported the clinical observations that hypothermia was an effective therapeutic adjunct in the treatment of decompression sickness.