Dysbaric osteonecrosis

Dysbaric osteonecrosis
Specialty	Diving medicine, occupational medicine

Dysbaric osteonecrosis or DON is a form of avascular necrosis where there is death of a portion of the bone that is thought to be caused by nitrogen (N₂) embolism (blockage of the blood vessels by a bubble of nitrogen coming out of solution) in divers.^[1] Although the definitive pathologic process is poorly understood, there are several hypotheses:

• Intra- or extravascular nitrogen in bones, "nitrogen embolism".^{[citation needed]}
• Osmotic gas effects due to intramedullary pressure effects.^{[citation needed]}
• fat embolism^{[citation needed]}
• hemoconcentration and increased coagulability.^{[citation needed]}