title: Time course of asymptomatic interstitial pulmonary oedema at high altitude.
abstract: The time course of asymptomatic pulmonary oedema during high-altitude exposure and its potential relationship with changes in cardiac function remain to clarify. Eleven volunteers were rapidly exposed to 4350m during a 4-day period. Each subject received clinical examination and thoracic ultrasonography to assess ultrasound lung comets (USLC) on day 1, 2 and 3 after arrival. Echocardiography was performed on day 2 and 4 at 4350m. All subjects had a significant increase in the number of USLC on day 1 (n=8±3), day 2 (n=7±4) and day 3 (n=3±2) compared to sea level (n=1±1) (P<0.01). Although left ventricle diastolic function and systolic tricuspid regurgitation gradient were significantly different at altitude compared to sea level, they did not correlate with the number of USLC (P>0.05). Asymptomatic pulmonary oedema seems to be transiently present in fast-ascending recreational climbers. The lack of correlation between the number of USLC and indices of cardiac changes suggest that non-cardiogenic mechanisms may underlie this transient increase in lung water.
authors.affiliation: Pôle Anesthésie Réanimation, CHU de Grenoble, 38042 Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bouzat
authors.forename: Guillaume
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Walther
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rupp
authors.forename: Gregory
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Doucende
authors.forename: Jean-François
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Payen
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Levy
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Verges
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000532:Altitude Sickness / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004452:Echocardiography; D006801:Humans; D006976:Hypertension, Pulmonary / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male