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Introduction to High Altitude Medicine

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High Altitude Medicine

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Abstract

People making an initial (usually more 2000-2500 m) or new high-altitude ascent, can suffer from the so-called the High-altitude illness (HAI) which includes Acute Mountain sickness (AMS), High altitude cerebral edema (HACE) and High-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE).

These entities represent a growing health problem in the world, due to the increase in people who are exposed. Most experts consider AMS and HACE to be different stages of severity of the same process. The symptoms a few days after starting the ascent: with the clinical history, physical examination, and complementary tests, we can make differential diagnoses. In this review we will discuss each of these clinical entities. We will review the clinical characteristics, the pathophysiology of each disorder, prevention, as well as pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches for the treatment of these pathologies.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Critical Care Medicine, Hospital Universitario Vithas Arturo Soria, Madrid, Spain

    Jose Alfonso Rubio Mateo-Sidron

  2. Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Pontevedra University Hospital Centre, Pontevedra, Spain

    Fernando Eiras Abalde

  3. Critical Care, Belize Healthcare parners, Belize, Belize

    Jorge Hidalgo

Authors
  1. Jose Alfonso Rubio Mateo-Sidron
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  2. Fernando Eiras Abalde
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  3. Jorge Hidalgo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fernando Eiras Abalde .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of General ICU and COVID-19 Unit, Belize Helthcare Partners Limited, Belize City, Belize

    Jorge Hidalgo

  2. Department of critical care, Hospital Materno Infantil, La Paz, Bolivia

    Sabrina Da Re

  3. Department of critical care, Portuguese National Institute of Medical Emergency, Porto, Portugal

    António Gandra D'Almeida

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Mateo-Sidron, J.A.R., Abalde, F.E., Hidalgo, J. (2023). Introduction to High Altitude Medicine. In: Hidalgo, J., Da Re, S., D'Almeida, A.G. (eds) High Altitude Medicine. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35092-4_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35092-4_1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-35091-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-35092-4

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