Using pure Oxygen, in breathing emergencies can only save lives..

Absract from article:
"Thirdly, oxygen is rapidly and rightly becoming a first aid tool, carried by many dive boats and clubs. Some divers reading this are probably wondering whether they could be causing more harm than good by giving casualties pure oxygen to breathe when on the surface.

I can assure you that absolutely no harm can come from giving pure oxygen to an individual suffering from a diving illness. If he was fit to dive, he is fit to receive oxygen.
Pulmonary oxygen toxicity takes many hours to develop in someone breathing pure oxygen at atmospheric pressure. As far as I am aware there is no contradiction in giving pure oxygen for several hours in an emergency.

It can only do good - centration in tissues starved of oxygen by the processes of decompression sickness (bubbles blocking blood vessels) as well as speeding the elimination of dissolved nitrogen from the body.
This can be explained by the fact that inspired air contains nitrogen so that by removing nitrogen from inspired air one maintains a higher gradient for gas elimination.

Since the introduction of oxygen first aid therapy by divers, medical staff of decompression chambers have seen an impressive reduction in the severity of the most serious form of DCS, neurological decompression sickness, in those turning up for treatment.

The USA, Australasia and the rest of Europe have parallel experience and the current recommendation by the Divers Alert Network and Japan is that the definitive first aid treatment for a diver suffering from a diving related illness is administration of 100% oxygen."

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