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Altitude sickness, the mildest form being acute mountain sickness (AMS), is a harmful effect of high altitude, caused by rapid exposure to low amounts of oxygen at high elevation. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] People's bodies can respond to high altitude in different ways.
First aid at altitude is oxygen at the highest practicable concentration and earliest and largest practicable reduction in cabin altitude. Ground-level 100% oxygen therapy is suggested for 2 hours following type-1 decompression sickness that occurs at altitude, if it resolves upon descent.
The recommended first line treatment is descent to a lower altitude as quickly as possible, with symptomatic improvement seen in as few as 500 to 1,000 meters (1,640 feet to 3,281 feet). [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 9 ] [ 20 ] However, descent is not mandatory in people with mild HAPE and treatment with warming techniques, rest, and supplemental oxygen can ...
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Very high altitude = 3,500–5,500 metres (11,500–18,000 ft) Extreme altitude = above 5,500 metres (18,000 ft) Travel to each of these altitude regions can lead to medical problems, from the mild symptoms of acute mountain sickness to the potentially fatal high-altitude pulmonary edema and high-altitude cerebral edema .
High-altitude cerebral edema (HACE) is a medical condition in which the brain swells with fluid because of the physiological effects of traveling to a high altitude. It generally appears in patients who have acute mountain sickness and involves disorientation, lethargy, and nausea among other symptoms.
Treatment depends on the specific disorder, but often includes oxygen therapy, which is standard first aid for most diving accidents, and is hardly ever contra-indicated for a person medically fit to dive, and hyperbaric therapy is the definitive treatment for decompression sickness.
In any situation that could cause decompression sickness, there is also potentially a risk of arterial gas embolism, and as many of the symptoms are common to both conditions, it may be difficult to distinguish between the two in the field, and first aid treatment is the same for both mechanisms. [2]