Contraindications
Some signs of decompression illness which suggest a risk of permanent injury are nevertheless considered contraindications for IWR. Hearing loss and vertigo displayed in isolation with no other symptoms of DCI can have been caused by inner ear barotrauma rather than DCI, and inner ear barotrauma is generally considered a contraindication for recompression. Even when caused by DCI, vertigo can make in-water treatment hazardous if accompanied by nausea and vomiting. A diver with a deteriorating level of consciousness or with a persisting reduced level of consciousness should also not be recompressed in-water nor should a diver who does not want to go back down, or with a  history of oxygen toxicity in the preceding dives, or any physical injury or incapacitation which may make the procedure unsafe. Definitive treatment
The duration of recompression treatment depends on the severity of symptoms, the dive history, the type of recompression therapy used and the patients response to the treatment.
Modern reptiles are susceptible to DCS, and there is some evidence that marine mammals such as cetaceans and seals may also be affected. AW Carlsen has suggested that the presence of a right-left shunt in the reptilian heart may account for the predisposition in the same way as a patent foramen ovale does in humans. Footnotes
See also
Decompression (diving) – Adjusting to pressure changes in ascents
Decompression illness – Disorders arising from ambient pressure reduction
Decompression theory – Theoretical modelling of decompression physiology
Diving disorders – Physiological disorders resulting from underwater diving
Inner ear decompression sickness – Medical condition caused by inert gas bubbles forming out of solution
Taravana – Decompression sickness after breath-hold diving

Notes
1. ^a  autochthonous: formed or originating in the place where found. References
Bibliography
External links

Divers Alert Network: diving medicine articles Archived 8 December 2005 at the Wayback Machine
Dive Tables from the NOAA
CDC – Decompression Sickness and Tunnel Workers – NIOSH Workplace Safety and Health Topic
Pathophysiology of decompression and acute dysbaric disorders
"Decompression Sickness" on Medscape