Objective:
No nationwide reports have focused on patients with decompression illness (DCI)
transported by doctor helicopter (DH) in Japan. We performed this retrospective study to
examine this population using data from the Japan DH registry system (JDRS).
Patients and Methods:
Patients were initially selected from the JDRS database. They were divided into two
groups: those transported by the Eastern Shizuoka DH (ES-DH) and those transported by
other DHs. Variables were compared between the two groups.
Results:
There were 44 patients who had DCI out of 41,592 patients in the JDRS. The majority of
cases (70%) were transported by the ES-DH. In the ES-DH group, age, rate of request type
using key words, and rate of instrumental intervention to secure an airway were
significantly greater, and the median Glasgow Coma Scale score was significantly lower
than that of the other DH group. However, there was no statistically significant
difference in the rate of cases with fatal outcomes between the two groups.
Conclusions:
This is the first report regarding the current status of patients with DCI transported
by DH in Japan. Most patients were transported by ES-DH to the Izu Peninsula. In
addition, the patients transported by ES-DH due to decompression illness tended to be
severely ill; however, the outcomes of the ES-DH and other DH groups did not differ to a
statistically significant extent and therefore effective recompression therapy could be
successfully performed at suitable hospitals owing to timely transportation.