Developing underwater medicine and hyperbaric medicine in Vietnam.

BACKGROUND: From the late 1960s until 1975, the Naval Physiology Department was established to focus on underwater medical research, serving the training needs of naval special forces. Since the 1980s, the Naval Medical Institute has applied recompression to treat some diving accidents, but the results have been limited. Some hospitals in Hanoi, Haiphong and Ho Chi Minh City were also equipped with monoplace and multiplace (4 people) hyperbaric chambers. However, clinical application research has not received much attention. In 2001, VINIMAM was established, and in 2007, the Center for Underwater and Hyperbaric Medicine of the VINIMAM was created, with the following purpose: research, training of underwater and hyperbaric medicine, application of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) in clinical setting, transferring technology of hyperbaric medicine and HBOT for Hospitals. CONCLUSIONS: The development of underwater medicine (diving medicine) and HBOT applied in clinical practice is very necessary and urgent in Vietnam as a maritime country, and it also contributes to the treatment of many incurable diseases in clinical practice.