Bleomycin and scuba diving: where is the harm?

[Karen]

No abstract. Due to copyright restrictions I can't post the article, but the concluding paragraph is " We strongly believe that resuming scuba diving 6–12 months after an uncomplicated series of three or four cycles of BEP is completely acceptable. Caution should only remain for patients who develop clinical signs of pulmonary-function impairment during or shortly after bleomycin treatment. We deem the conservative opinions of many physicians and diving organisations about recreational diving after bleomycin treatment as unnecessary—opinions that we hope to change. Young men affected by testicular cancer should be able to undertake their normal daily life as fully as possibly after treatment with bleomycin."

Lancet Oncol. 2007 Nov;8(11):954-5.

Bleomycin and scuba diving: where is the harm?de Wit R, Sleijfer S, Kaye SB, Horwich A, Mead B, Sleijfer DT, Stoter G.
Erasmus University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, Netherlands. [email protected]

PMID: 17976605 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]