Psychological and physical correlates of musculoskeletal symptoms in male professional divers and offshore workers.

Background: Underwater divers are more likely to complain of musculoskeletal symptoms than a control population. Accordingly, we conducted a study to determine whether musculoskeletal symptoms reflected observable physical disorder, to ascertain the relationship between symptoms and measures of mood, memory and executive function and to assess any need for future screening.

Methods: A 10% random sample of responders to a prior postal health questionnaire was examined (151 divers, 120 non-diving offshore workers).

Changes in foetal liver T2* measurements by MRI in response to maternal oxygen breathing: application to diagnosing foetal growth restriction.

The motivation of the project was to investigate the use of oxygen-challenge magnetic resonance imaging (OC-MRI) as a method of diagnosing foetal growth restriction. Foetal growth restriction is associated with restricted foetal oxygen supply and is also associated with increased risks of perinatal mortality and morbidity, and a number of serious and chronic health problems. Measurements of T2* relaxation time, an MRI parameter which increases with blood oxygenation, were made in the right lobe of the foetal liver in 80 singleton pregnancies, before and after the mother breathed oxygen.

Saturation treatment in shore-based chambers for divers with deteriorating cerebro-spinal decompression sickness.

Nearly 4% of all primary recompression treatments in Scotland employ saturation tables (helium/oxygen-oxygen/air or oxygen/air alone). These cases usually involve divers presenting at the surface who then develop deteriorating spinal cord injury with varying degrees of cerebral involvement. Treatment is delivered either through immediate saturation therapy or through conversion of failing or failed primary treatment.

Analyses of treatment for divers with actual or suspected decompression illness.

Introduction: We examined national and single-centre datasets in Scotland to determine any trends in the treatment of diving-related disease and to assess how the choice of first treatment may be linked to the divers' condition on referral and on discharge.

Method: Two datasets were analysed: (1) 300 divers treated for actual or suspected decompression illness by the Dunstaffnage Hyperbaric Unit (Oban) between 1972 and 2007; and (2) 536 divers treated by the Scottish recompression chamber network between 1991 and 2003 (some data were common to both sets). The type and frequency of initial and any subsequent hyperbaric treatment used were examined.

Emergency recompression: clinical audit of service delivery at a national level.

Clinical audit is an essential element to the maintenance or improvement of delivery of any medical service. During the development phase of a National Recompression Registration Service for Scotland, clinical audit was initiated to provide a standardised tool to monitor the quality of outcome with respect to the severity of presentation. A functional audit process was an essential consideration for planned future measurement of treatment efficacy at local (single hyperbaric unit) and national (multiple hyperbaric units) scales.