Decompression sickness Decompression sickness Decompression sickness (DCS; also known as divers' disease, the bends, aerobullosis, or caisson disease) describes a condition arising from dissolved gases coming out of solution into bubbles inside the body on depressurisation. DCS most commonly refers to problems arising from underwater diving decompression (i.e., during ascent), but may be experienced in other depressurisation events such as emerging from a caisson, flying in an unpressurised aircraft at altitude, and extravehicular activity from spacecraft. DCS and arterial gas embolism are collectively referred to as decompression illness. Since bubbles can form in or migrate to any part of the body, DCS
Decompression sickness from decompression tables, decompression software, or from dive computers, and these are commonly based upon a mathematical model of the body's uptake and release of inert gas as pressure changes. These models, such as the Bühlmann decompression algorithm, are designed to fit empirical data and provide a decompression schedule for a given depth and dive duration. Since divers on the surface after a dive still have excess inert gas in their bodies, decompression from any subsequent dive before this excess is fully eliminated needs to modify the schedule to take account of the residual gas load from the previous dive.