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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.
CMS was first described in 1925 by Carlos Monge Medrano, a Peruvian doctor who specialised in diseases of high altitude. [3] While acute mountain sickness is experienced shortly after ascent to high altitude, chronic mountain sickness may develop only after many years of living at high altitude. In medicine, high altitude is defined as over ...
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.
People can become acclimatised to an altitude of 5,200 to 5,500 metres (17,000 to 18,000 ft) if they remain at high altitude for long enough, but for high altitude rescue work, rescue teams must be rapidly deployed, and the time necessary to acclimatise is not available, making oxygen breathing equipment necessary above approximately 3,700 ...
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 .
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 ...
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.
Mountain sickness can refer to: Altitude sickness or acute mountain sickness, a pathological condition that is caused by acute exposure to low air pressure Chronic mountain sickness , a disease that can develop during extended time living at altitude