If you’re planning to climb Mt. Everest – the highest mountain on Earth – you may want to pack portable ultrasound equipment along with long underwear and extra socks.
In a new study published in Wilderness Medical Society, researchers say portable ultrasound can be used in the cold, remote climate of Mt. Everest to help guide non-medical experts in the diagnosis of one of the most common health risks mountaineers face at high altitudes – pulmonary edema, an accumulation of fluid in the lungs.
“Using portable ultrasounds with remote expert guidance telemedicine provides a robust diagnostic capability in austere locations like Mt. Everest,” says Scott Dulchavsky, M.D. Ph.D., senior study author and the chairman of Surgery at Henry Ford Hospital.
Dr. Dulchavsky is the team leader for a group of NASA scientists who are refining techniques for examining and treating sick or injured astronauts on the International Space Station and beyond. His team developed a training program that, in just a few hours, teaches non-medical crew members how to use portable ultrasound equipment to help diagnose an injury.
Prior to using the device on Mt. Everest, the ultrasound devices and associated video equipment were tested by researchers in a cooled hypobaric chamber to make sure they would work in the mountain’s extreme climate.
Once it passed that test, the equipment was then tested at the Advanced Base Camp on Mt. Everest – located about three-quarters of way up the mountain. Here, the ultrasound system was connected via satellite phone to a video streaming device and portable computer to stream video online.
This technology allowed a novice user to be guided by Dr. Dulchavsky – who was at the time thousands of miles away at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit – while performing an ultrasound on a fellow climber.
Dr. Dulchavsky then viewed the transmitted ultrasound images. Based on the images, he was able to detect fluid in the lungs of one of the climbers, proving that portable ultrasound can be successfully used to diagnose pulmonary edema in climbers.
Source: Into Thin Air: Extreme Ultrasound on Mt. Everest. Wilderness Medical Society. Vol. 20 (3).
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