Why going to Everest may help patients in intensive care

One in six people are admitted to an intensive care unit in the United Kingdom during their life. Of these people, 20% will die whilst on the intensive care unit. This equates to 20,000 deaths a year, In addition to this 20%, a further 10% will die without leaving hospital.

People are admitted to intensive care for a variety of reasons. They may have been in a car accident. They may have bled after giving birth. They may have had a major operation, or they may be suffering from meningitis. Despite these very different reasons for admission nearly all of them will suffer from low oxygen levels. These low oxygen levels are similar to the low oxygen levels seen in people that go to high altitude.

When people go to altitude, some people cope with low oxygen levels very well, and some people do not cope well at all. This does not appear to be related to how fit they are. One hypothesis is that those that cope with low oxygen levels well do so because their cells process oxygen more efficiently.

The main aim of the Caudwell Xtreme Everest study is to measure how individuals? bodies change as they are exposed to lower and lower levels of oxygen. The expectation is that there will be a difference between those that adapt well, and those that adapt poorly. If the Caudwell Xtreme Everest team can determine what that difference is, then they can start to look at treatments that can help poor adpaptors use oxygen more efficiently. This can be taken back to the intensive care unit to improve survival rates in patients.

Story by Kay Mitchell