Hyperbaric and Diving Medicine
Illustration of Boyle’s Law. Image credit: Barratt and others. Decompression Illness in Divers—A review of the literature. Neurologist. 2002; 8:186-202.
MRI of a diver’s shoulder, confirming decompression illness. Image credit: Barratt and others. Decompression Illness in Divers—A review of the literature. Neurologist. 2002; 8:186-202.
Bone scan of the same diver’s shoulder. The diver had shoulder pain that was refractory to treatment. Image credit: Barratt and others. Decompression Illness in Divers—A review of the literature. Neurologist. 2002; 8:186-202.
Dr. Barratt completed a two-year fellowship in hyperbaric and diving medicine at Louisiana State University in New Orleans; she joined the faculty after graduation. She received injured saturation divers from the Gulf of Mexico. Additionally, she traveled to remote areas of Honduras and Nicaragua, where the Miskito Indians experienced severe decompression illness. Her review of 229 cases of severe decompression Illness in Miskito Indian Lobster Divers was published in Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine.
In addition to treating decompression sickness, arterial gas embolism, and other forms of barotrauma, she performed fitness to dive evaluations. She also cared for patients with chronic non-healing wounds, invasive fungal infections, and carbon monoxide poisoning. Dr. Barratt served as a reviewer for Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine (now entitled Aerospace Medicine and Human Performance) and co-authors the chapter on fungal infections in the textbook Hyperbaric Medicine Practice. She has served as an expert witness in the field of maritime law. Her publications describe utilizing MRI, bone scans, somatosensory evoked potentials, and nerve conduction studies to visualize and localize lesions observed on clinical evaluation. Bibliography is below.
Hyperbaric and Diving Medicine Publications
Garcia-Covarrubias L and Barratt D. Use of Adjunctive Hyperbaric Oxygen in the Management of Invasive Fungal Infections. In Whelan HT and Kindwall EP (Editors). Hyperbaric Medicine Practice. 4th Edition Best Publishing Company: Flagstaff, AZ, 2017: 881-894.
Garcia-Covarrubias L, Barratt DM. Use of Adjunctive Hyperbaric Oxygen in the Management of Invasive Fungal Infections. In Kindwall EP (Editor). Hyperbaric Medicine Practice. 3rd Edition Best Publishing Company: Flagstaff, AZ, 2008: 959-972.
Garland MM, Gutierrez A, Barratt DM. Peripheral neuropathy of the extremity after hyperbaric exposure. Aviat Space Environ Med. 2012;83:805-808.
Van Meter K, Sheps S, Kriedt F, Moises J, Barratt D, Murphy-Lavoie H, Harch PG, Bazan N. Hyperbaric oxygen improves rate of return of spontaneous circulation after prolonged normothermic porcine cardiopulmonary arrest. Resuscitation. 2008;78:200-14. Epub 2008 May 16.
Barratt DM and Van Meter K. Decompression Sickness in Miskito Indian Lobster Divers: A Review of 229 Cases. 2004. Aviat Space Environ Med. 75:350-353.
Garcia-Covarrubias L, Barratt DM, Bartlett R, Van Meter K. [Treatment of mucormycosis with adjunctive hyperbaric oxygen: five cases treated in the same institution and review of the literature] Rev Invest Clin. 2004 56:51-5. Spanish.
Barratt DM, Harch P, and Van Meter K. Decompression Illness in Divers—A review of the literature. Neurologist. 2002; 8:186-202.
Garcia-Covarrubias L, Barratt DM, Van Meter K, Metzinger SE, Bartlett R. Management of Invasive Aspergillosis with Adjuvant Hyperbaric Oxygenation: A retrospective clinical series at a single institution. South Med J 2002. 95:450-456.
Barratt DM, Van Meter K, Asmar P, Nolan T, Trahan C, Garcia-Covarrubias L, Metzinger S. Hyperbaric Oxygen as an Adjunct in Zygomycosis: Randomized Controlled Trial in a Murine Model. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2001; 45:3601-3602.
Garcia-Covarrubias L, Bartlett R, Barratt DM, Wassermann R. Rhino-Orbito-Cerebral Mucormycosis Attributable to Apophysomyces elegans in an Immunocompetent Individual: Case Report and Review of the Literature. J Trauma. 2001; 50:353-357.
Hyperbaric and Diving Medicine Poster presentations
Madatic J, Barratt D, LeGros T, Murphy-Lavoie H, Harch P, Van Meter K Neurological Injury in a professional commercial diver: Controversies in the treatment of Type II decompression of the spinal cord. Poster session presented at: the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society Annual Scientific Meeting; 2005 Jun 16; Orlando, Florida.
Kelly MK, Barratt DM, Van Meter K. Reversal on MRI of a thoracic cord lesion in a professional diver with decompression sickness: A case report. Poster session presented at: the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society Annual Scientific Meeting; 2004 May 2; Sydney, Australia.
Barratt DM, Mader E, Branch L, Van Meter K, Vazquez J, Fisch B. Somatosensory Evoked Potentials in a SCUBA diver with Peduncular Hallucinosis. Poster session presented at: the 27th International Congress of Clinical Neurophysiology (joint meeting with the American Clinical Neurophysiology Society), 2003 Sep 16; San Francisco, California.
Barratt DM, Gutierrez A, Van Meter K. Magnetic resonance imaging in decompression illness. Poster session presented at: the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society Annual Scientific Meeting; 2002 Jun 28; San Diego, California.
Garcia-Covarrubias L, Bartlett R, Barratt DM, Wassermann R. Rhino-Orbito-Cerebral Mucormycosis Attributable to Apophysomyces elegans in an Immunocompetent Individual: Case Report and Review of the Literature. Poster session presented at: the Undersea & Hyperbaric Medical Society Gulf Chapter Meeting, 1999 Oct 23; Atlanta, Georgia.
Image credit: Books by Eric Douglas
Image credit: Barratt DM and Van Meter K. Decompression Sickness in Miskito Indian Lobster Divers: A Review of 229 Cases. 2004. Aviat Space Environ Med. 75:350-353.
Illustration of Henry’s Law. Image credit: Barratt and others. Decompression Illness in Divers—A review of the literature. Neurologist. 2002; 8:186-202.
Barotrauma due to helmet squeeze after rapid descent. The patient recovered fully. Image credit: Barratt and others. Decompression Illness in Divers—A review of the literature. Neurologist. 2002; 8:186-202.
Spinal cord section of a pig model of severe decompression illness. The white circles represent bubbles in the spinal cord. Image credit: Barratt and others. Decompression Illness in Divers—A review of the literature. Neurologist. 2002; 8:186-202.