Spontaneous pneumothorax & diving
Hello,
I have my own diving company and I am working as a commercial diver, mainly in inland waters.
In year 2004 I had spontaneous pneumothorax (it happend outside the water), and I went to hospital.
When I told them that I work as a commercial diver, doctors suggested me surgery.
Few monts after surgery I did Spiral CT of the chests, and everything was OK.
After operation to this day I had no problems with lungs.
I would to hear you advice (opinion) about my future diving, because some doctors in Croatia think that I should stay out of the water.
Down here you can read what doctors wrote after operation;
: Pneumothorax spontaneus l. dex.
30.8.04. drainage cavi hemithoracis dex.
7.9.04. OP.- VATS. Abrasio pleurae parietalis apicalis bilateralis
Pacient was recived in the hospital because of right side spontaneus pneumothorax.
It is the first episode of spontaneus pneumothorax.
I hope that you can help me with with your advice on this subject.
Thank you for your time and your answer.
Saša
Hello Sasa,
A spontaneous pneumothorax would definitly permanently exclude you from commercial diving in Australia and also from recreational diving. This is becauise it is the indicator of an inherent structural lung problem that has occurred with no provocation and diving is infact a reasonable provocation of the lung tissue. The fact that you have been diving and not hads a problem is good luck more than anything else but a pneumothorax under water is a very dangerous problem as the gas in the space will expand on ascent (which you can't avoid) and may develop into a tension pneumothorax which is an immediate life threatening condition requiring immediate decompression of the chest cavity (ie a needle into the chest). It can be rapidly fatal (5 minutes) and as stated is compounded by the expansion of the gases on ascent.
The VATS procedure is designed to close the potential space between the two pleral linings (tissue coverings if the lungs and the inside chest wall to facilitate expansion and contratcion of the lungs....think lubrication mats) and fuse the layers together. This also has the slight issue with diving of making the flexibility of the lung movement less and potentially could cause tethering of the lung tissue to the linings.
The summary is that all of these issues would make you permanently unfit to dive from a medical point of view.
Regards Glen
Hello Glen,
thank you for your answer.
All the best.
Saša