If the symptoms resolve or reduce during recompression, it is considered likely that a treatment schedule will be effective. The test is not entirely reliable, and both false positives and false negatives are possible, however in the commercial diving environment it is often considered worth treating when there is doubt, and very early recompression has a history of very high success rates and reduced number of treatments needed for complete resolution and minimal sequelae. Differential diagnosis
Symptoms of DCS and arterial gas embolism can be virtually indistinguishable. The most reliable way to tell the difference is based on the dive profile followed, as the probability of DCS depends on duration of exposure and magnitude of pressure, whereas AGE depends entirely on the performance of the ascent. In many cases it is not possible to distinguish between the two, but as the treatment is the same in such cases it does not usually matter.Other conditions which may be confused with DCS include skin symptoms cutis marmorata due to DCS and skin barotrauma due to dry suit squeeze, for which no treatment is necessary. Dry suit squeeze produces lines of redness with possible bruising where the skin was pinched between folds of the suit, while the mottled effect of cutis marmorata is usually on skin where there is subcutaneous fat, and has no linear pattern.Transient episodes of severe neurological incapacitation with rapid spontaneous recovery shortly after a dive may be attributed to hypothermia, but may be symptomatic of short term CNS involvement, which may have residual problems or relapses.
Diastasis recti,  or rectus abdominis diastasis, is defined as a gap of about 2.7 cm or greater between the two sides of the rectus abdominis muscle. The distance between the right and left rectus abdominis muscles is created by the stretching of the linea alba, a connective collagen sheath created by the aponeurosis insertions of the transverse abdominis, internal oblique, and external oblique. This condition has no associated morbidity or mortality.Diastasis of the rectus abdominis muscle most frequently occurs in newborns and pregnant women; however, it may occur in any adult woman or man. In the newborn, the rectus abdominis is not fully developed and may not be sealed together at midline. Diastasis recti is more common in premature newborns. In pregnant or postpartum women, the condition is caused by the stretching of the rectus abdominis by the growing uterus. It is more common in multiparous women (women who have had multiple pregnancies) owing to repeated episodes of stretching. When the defect occurs during pregnancy, the uterus can sometimes be seen bulging through the abdominal wall beneath the skin. Non-pregnant women are more susceptible to develop diastasis recti when over the age of 35 or with high birth weight of child, multiple birth pregnancy, or multiple pregnancies. Additional causes can be attributed to excessive abdominal exercises after the first trimester of pregnancy.Strength training of all the core muscles, including the abdominis recti muscle, may or may not reduce the size of the gap in pregnant or postpartum women.