A strategy for determining arterial blood gases on the summit of Mt. Everest

BMC Physiology
Thomas F CatronJ B West

Abstract

Climbers on the summit of Mt. Everest are exposed to extreme hypoxia, and the physiological implications are of great interest. Inferences have been made from alveolar gas samples collected on the summit, but arterial blood samples would give critical information. We propose a plan to insert an arterial catheter at an altitude of 8000 m, take blood samples above this using an automatic sampler, store the samples in glass syringes in an ice-water slurry, and analyze them lower on the mountain 4 to 6 hours later. A preliminary design of the automatic sampler was successfully tested at the White Mountain Research Station (altitude 3800 m-4300 m). To determine how much the blood gases changed over a long period, rabbit blood was tonometered to give a gas composition close to that expected on the summit (PO2 4.0 kPa (30 mmHg), PCO2 1.3 kPa (10 mmHg), pH 7.7) and the blood gases were measured every 2 hours for 8 hours both at sea level and 3800 m. The mean changes were PO2 +0.3 to +0.4 kPa (+2 to +3 mmHg), PCO2 0 to +0.13 kPa (+1 mmHg), pH -0.02 to +0.04, base excess -0.7 to +1.2 mM. In practice the delay before analysis should not exceed 4 to 6 hours. The small paradoxical rise in PO2 is presumably caused mainly by contamination of ...Continue Reading

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Citations

Jan 15, 2011·Pflügers Archiv : European journal of physiology·Robert T R Huckstepp, Nicholas Dale
Jul 18, 2006·Nature Reviews. Microbiology·Didier Mazel
Aug 9, 2006·Nature Reviews. Microbiology·F Jerry ReenE Fidelma Boyd
Jan 9, 2009·The New England Journal of Medicine·Michael P W GrocottUNKNOWN Caudwell Xtreme Everest Research Group
Jul 29, 2011·The American Journal of Nursing·Leah Craft, Joseph A Prahlow
Dec 21, 2006·The Clinical Journal of Pain·Thomas HadjistavropoulosJaime Williams
Sep 23, 2008·The Clinical Journal of Pain·Shannon Fuchs-LacelleLisa Lix
Mar 19, 2011·The Clinical Journal of Pain·Esther SheuKenneth D Craig
Sep 10, 2011·The Clinical Journal of Pain·Amanda C Lints-MartindaleLilian Thorpe
Mar 5, 2008·Alzheimer Disease and Associated Disorders·Jiska Cohen-Mansfield
Oct 19, 2011·The Journal of Physiology·Robert T R Huckstepp, Nicholas Dale

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