Continued sickness led to the vessels abandonment in 1869. 1870: Bauer published outcomes of 25 paralyzed caisson workers. From 1870 to 1910, all prominent features were established. Explanations at the time included: cold or exhaustion causing reflex spinal cord damage; electricity cause by friction on compression; or organ congestion; and vascular stasis caused by decompression. 1871: The Eads Bridge in St Louis employed 352 compressed air workers including Alphonse Jaminet as the physician in charge. There were 30 seriously injured and 12 fatalities. Jaminet himself developed decompression sickness and his personal description was the first such recorded. According to Divers Alert Network, in its Inert Gas Exchange, Bubbles and Decompression Theory course, this is where "bends" was first used to refer to DCS. 1872: The similarity between decompression sickness and iatrogenic air embolism as well as the relationship between inadequate decompression and decompression sickness was noted by Friedburg. He suggested that intravascular gas was released by rapid decompression and recommended: slow compression and decompression; four-hour working shifts; limit to maximum pressure of 44.1 psig (4 atm); using only healthy workers; and recompression treatment for severe cases. 1873: Andrew Smith first used the term "caisson disease" describing 110 cases of decompression sickness as the physician in charge during construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. The project employed 600 compressed air workers. Recompression treatment was not used. The project chief engineer Washington Roebling had caisson disease, and endured the after-effects of the disease for the rest of his life.
During the EVA they breathe 100% oxygen in their spacesuits, which operate at 4.3 psi (0.30 bar), although research has examined the possibility of using 100% O2 at 9.5 psi (0.66 bar) in the suits to lessen the pressure reduction, and hence the risk of DCS. Treatment
Recompression on air was shown to be an effective treatment for minor DCS symptoms by Keays in 1909. Evidence of the effectiveness of recompression therapy utilizing oxygen was first shown by Yarbrough and Behnke, and has since become the standard of care for treatment of DCS. Recompression is normally carried out in a recompression chamber. At a dive site, a riskier alternative is in-water recompression.Oxygen first aid has been used as an emergency treatment for diving injuries for years. Particularly if given within the first four hours of surfacing, it increases the success of recompression therapy as well as decreasing the number of recompression treatments required. Most fully closed-circuit diving rebreathers can deliver sustained high concentrations of oxygen-rich breathing gas and could be used as a means of supplying oxygen if dedicated equipment is not available.It is beneficial to give fluids, as this helps reduce dehydration. It is no longer recommended to administer aspirin, unless advised to do so by medical personnel, as analgesics may mask symptoms. People should be made comfortable and placed in the supine position (horizontal), or the recovery position if vomiting occurs.