Medical Research : Location, Mt. Everest

Sat, 21 Apr 2007 22:15:16 +0000

Where: London, United Kingdom

January 10, 2009 : An interesting story by BBC News tells how a team of London doctors, including five anesthetists, two general practitioners and a vascular surgeon climbed Mt. Everest. They then treated themselves as guinea pigs to measure oxygen levels present in their blood at the summit.

The readings confirmed that high-altitude climbers have extremely low levels of oxygen in their blood. At sea-level these would only be seen in patients who were close to death. The team leader Dr Mike Grocott said the experiment would help to establish how much oxygen deprivation people can tolerate before they are treated with ‘aggressive interventions’. That would include treatments like ventilation, which carry a risk of damage to organs like the lungs.

Medical Research on Pitara Kids Network

Medical Research : Location, Mt. Everest