In an extremely rare medical case, a scuba diver who descended deep into an underwater cave developed a deadly blood syndrome in which fluid leaked out of his blood vessels.
In the new case, described July 5 in the journal BMJ Case Reports, the diver developed systemic capillary leak syndrome , but survived thanks to prompt treatment. SCLS is a severe form of inflammation that causes all your blood vessels to leak a protein that normally keeps fluid inside. In response, fluid flows out of the cells, Ataya told Live Science. "In the man's case, we think that the air bubbles that form from the ascent during decompression result in a pro-inflammatory cascade in the blood vessels which causes them to become more permeable, resulting in the leakage of protein and fluid that leads to SCLS," Ataya said.
Dr. Jeffrey Cooper, a professor in the department of emergency medicine at the University of Nebraska Medical Center told Live Science that the case may raise general awareness of the potential complications associated with deep diving.