Decompression (diving) If the concentration gets too high, it may reach a stage where bubble formation can occur in the supersaturated tissues. When the pressure of gases in a bubble exceed the combined external pressures of ambient pressure and the surface tension of the bubble-liquid interface, the bubbles grow, and this growth can damage tissue. If the dissolved inert gases come out of solution within the tissues of the body and form bubbles, they may cause the condition known as decompression sickness, or DCS, also known as divers' disease, the bends or caisson disease. However, not all bubbles result in symptoms, and
Decompression sickness organelles, while a more gradual reduction in pressure may allow accumulation of a smaller number of larger bubbles, some of which may not produce clinical signs, but still cause physiological effects typical of a blood/gas interface and mechanical effects. Gas is dissolved in all tissues, but decompression sickness is only clinically recognised in the central nervous system, bone, ears, teeth, skin and lungs. Necrosis has frequently been reported in the lower cervical, thoracic, and upper lumbar regions of the spinal cord. A catastrophic pressure reduction from saturation produces explosive mechanical disruption of cells by local effervescence, while a more gradual