Accident at Vortex

[johnjohn205]

"They had a diver surface unconscious and had to get life flighted out. He was breathing, but that is all I know. Does anyone have any more information?"

Saw this on another forum i frequent anyone have any information?

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Something like this happened in '09, several months ago. Old dude had a heart attack from what I heard.

Is this something you saw thats new, or old stuff you're just curious about?

[johnjohn205]

nope this apparently happened saturday,it was posted on the pensacola fishing forum, here is the guys original post.

http://www.pensacolahuntingforum.com...7750-38-1.aspx

[WJefferis]

Some info from Shane at Vortex was posted on SB http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/dee...-incident.html

[Reddiver]

Wow removed part of a lung. Thats not good. Glad to here he is going to make it and is talking. Hope he gets well soon. Sorry to here this stuff.

[Garth]

Indications for removing part of the lung... wow. Pulmonary emboli to my knowledge is not one of them. If it were barotrauma a chest tube might be necessary to expand a lung but to remove part of it?
It really sounds more like a tumor or mass of some sort which wouldn't be consistant with the scene of an emergency. Any thoughts.

Could it have been possible that he didn't have part of his lung removed and rather a collapsed lung?

[WJefferis]

There are all kinds of lung problems that he could have had prior to diving that he didn't know about until he went scuba diving. He also could have held his breath on the way back up. There was a death that occured about two years ago here in Pensacola with a diver that had a bleb on his lung and it reptured during a dive. After the incident I contacted a lung doctor who told me that it is a good idea to get your chest x-rayed to check for bleb's if you scuba dive (of course what else is a doc going to say). If he did have some kind of rupture to the lungs this may explain having to remove some to fix everything (total speculation). Here is a little info on bleb's and lung unjury:

Primary spontaneous pneumothorax. Primary spontaneous pneumothorax is thought to develop when a small air blister (bleb) on the top of the lung ruptures. Blebs are caused by a weakness in the lung tissue and can rupture from changes in air pressure when you're scuba diving, flying, mountain climbing or, according to some reports, listening to extremely loud music. Additionally, a primary spontaneous pneumothorax may occur while smoking marijuana, after a deep inhalation, followed by slow breathing out against partially closed lips that forces the smoke deeper into the lungs. But most commonly, blebs rupture for no obvious reason.
Genetic factors may play a role in primary spontaneous pneumothorax because this condition may run in families. A primary spontaneous pneumothorax is usually mild because pressure from the collapsed portion of the lung may in turn collapse the bleb.
Secondary spontaneous pneumothorax. This develops in people who already have a lung disorder, especially emphysema, which progressively damages your lungs. Other conditions that can lead to secondary spontaneous pneumothorax include tuberculosis, pneumonia, cystic fibrosis and lung cancer. In these cases, the pneumothorax occurs because the diseased lung tissue is next to the pleural space.
Secondary spontaneous pneumothorax can be more severe and even life-threatening because diseased tissue may open a wider hole, allowing more air into the pleural space than does a small, ruptured bleb. Additionally, people with lung disease already have reduced lung reserves, making any reduction in lung function more serious. A secondary spontaneous pneumothorax almost always requires chest tube drainage for treatment.
Traumatic pneumothorax. Any blunt or penetrating injury to your chest can cause lung collapse. Knife and gunshot wounds, a blow to the chest, even a deployed air bag can cause a pneumothorax. So can injuries that inadvertently occur during certain medical procedures, such as the insertion of chest tubes, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and lung or liver biopsies.
Tension pneumothorax. The most serious type of pneumothorax, this occurs when the pressure in the pleural space is greater than the atmospheric pressure, either because air becomes trapped in the pleural space or because the entering air is from a positive-pressure mechanical ventilator. The force of the air can cause the affected lung to collapse completely. It can also push the heart toward the uncollapsed lung, compressing both it and the heart. Tension pneumothorax comes on suddenly, progresses rapidly and is fatal if not treated quickly.

[Garth]

thank you for your response, I simply was confused why they needed to remove part of the lung. I have taken care of patients that have suffered one of the four conditions you have mentioned. Nearly all of them were treated with chest tubes. The report said that the injured had part of his lung removed, does this mean there was a biopsy? This may explain the cause of the accident but I was unaware that partial lung removal was part of a treatment. Just doesn't fit with my type of trauma experience but then again I have never taken care of a diver before.

[amphipod06]

thank you for your response, I simply was confused why they needed to remove part of the lung. I have taken care of patients that have suffered one of the four conditions you have mentioned. Nearly all of them were treated with chest tubes. The report said that the injured had part of his lung removed, does this mean there was a biopsy? This may explain the cause of the accident but I was unaware that partial lung removal was part of a treatment. Just doesn't fit with my type of trauma experience but then again I have never taken care of a diver before.

All speculation, of course, but how about this scenario:

Prospective diver has a mass in the lung, yet uindiagnosed, goes for OW certification dive. Mass in lung causes tissue to not be compliant or some sort of other issue that then develops into PTX on ascent, when examined at ED the images reveal the so-far-undiagnosed mass. Surgeon gets called in, mass (and part of lung) gets removed and pt recovers in ICU....

Again, just speculation, until he recovers fully and if he decides to post then we'll know what truly happened. In the meantime, hope for a full recovery.

Dive safe,

Celia

PS He may have a chest tube, no mention of him not having one so far...

[divindoc]

Speculation, but the diver may have had congenital blebs that ruptured during ascent. A persistent air leak after chest tube insertion is an indication for open thoracotomy (chest surgery) and resection of the blebs.

Plain chest xrays are insensitive for detecting blebs, a CT is the diagnostic test of choice.