If Type II DCS and no chamber is available, what is recommended?

If Type II DCS and no chamber is available, what is recommended?

• A. Wait and monitor
• B. Recompression or GLO if no chamber available
• C. Antibiotics and rest
• D. Oxygen therapy only

Answer: (B)

Type II DCS is a serious gas-embolism problem that needs rapid reduction of bubble size and improved tissue oxygenation. The definitive treatment is recompression in a hyperbaric chamber, which squeezes the bubbles and accelerates nitrogen off-gassing while delivering high‑flow oxygen to the tissues. If a chamber isn’t available, a field option called GLO is used as an interim measure to provide pressurized, oxygen-rich treatment until you can reach a chamber. In either case the goal is to reduce bubble volume and enhance oxygen delivery, not merely to watch and wait. Therefore, the best approach is to pursue recompression or the portable field alternative (GLO) if no chamber is available. Waiting and monitoring alone is dangerous, and antibiotics with rest do not address the gas bubbles. Oxygen therapy helps, but pressure is the key factor for Type II DCS until definitive treatment can be obtained.

Type II DCS is a serious gas-embolism problem that needs rapid reduction of bubble size and improved tissue oxygenation. The definitive treatment is recompression in a hyperbaric chamber, which squeezes the bubbles and accelerates nitrogen off-gassing while delivering high‑flow oxygen to the tissues.

If a chamber isn’t available, a field option called GLO is used as an interim measure to provide pressurized, oxygen-rich treatment until you can reach a chamber. In either case the goal is to reduce bubble volume and enhance oxygen delivery, not merely to watch and wait.

Therefore, the best approach is to pursue recompression or the portable field alternative (GLO) if no chamber is available. Waiting and monitoring alone is dangerous, and antibiotics with rest do not address the gas bubbles. Oxygen therapy helps, but pressure is the key factor for Type II DCS until definitive treatment can be obtained.