NITROGEN WASHOUT STUDIES IN ACUTE MOUNTAIN-SICKNESS

  • 1 January 1977
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 48  (2) , 108-110
Abstract
The severity of Acute Mountain Sickness (A.M.S.), indices of pulmonary gas exchange and N washout curves was assessed in healthy volunteers acutely exposed to high altitude. Symptoms of A.M.S. ranged from malaise to vomiting with intractable headache. The slope of phase III of the N washout curve increased most in those subjects with the most severe A.M.S. and who were most hypoxemic. The sickest subject had the greatest increase in (A-a)DO2 [alveolar-arterial O2 tension differences] and the largest increase in the slope of phase III. These abnormalities in gas exchange and N washout curves in the subjects with the most marked A.M.S. suggest that the manifestations of cerebral and pulmonary dysfunction at altitude develop simultaneously, although not necessarily by identical mechanisms.

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