title: Wilderness Medical Society practice guidelines for the prevention and treatment of acute altitude illness: 2014 update.
abstract: To provide guidance to clinicians about best practices, the Wilderness Medical Society convened an expert panel to develop evidence-based guidelines for prevention and treatment of acute mountain sickness, high altitude cerebral edema, and high altitude pulmonary edema. These guidelines present the main prophylactic and therapeutic modalities for each disorder and provide recommendations about their role in disease management. Recommendations are graded based on the quality of supporting evidence and balance between the benefits and risks/burdens according to criteria put forth by the American College of Chest Physicians. The guidelines also provide suggested approaches to prevention and management of each disorder that incorporate these recommendations. This is an updated version of the original WMS Consensus Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Acute Altitude Illness published in Wilderness & Environmental Medicine 2010;21(2):146-155.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA (Drs Luks and Schoene). Electronic address: aluks@u.washington.edu.
authors.forename: Andrew M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Luks
authors.affiliation: Divisions of Emergency Medicine (Dr McIntosh).
authors.forename: Scott E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: McIntosh
authors.affiliation: Pulmonary and Critical Care Division, Intermountain Medical Center and the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (Dr Grissom).
authors.forename: Colin K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Grissom
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Division of Emergency Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA (Drs Auerbach and Zafren).
authors.forename: Paul S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Auerbach
authors.affiliation: Division of Health Sciences, University of Nevada, Reno, NV (Dr Rodway).
authors.forename: George W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Rodway
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA (Drs Luks and Schoene); East Bay Regional Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Associates, Berkeley, CA (Dr Schoene).
authors.forename: Robert B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Schoene
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Division of Emergency Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA (Drs Auerbach and Zafren); Himalayan Rescue Association, Kathmandu, Nepal (Dr Zafren).
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zafren
authors.affiliation: Division of Emergency Medicine, Altitude Research Center, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora and the Institute for Altitude Medicine, Telluride, CO (Dr Hackett).
authors.forename: Peter H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Hackett
mesh_terms: D000532:Altitude Sickness / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000628:therapy; D001929:Brain Edema / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D009051:Mountaineering; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D011654:Pulmonary Edema / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000628:therapy; D012955:Societies, Medical; D055813:Wilderness Medicine / Q000592:standards
keywords: acetazolamide; acute mountain sickness; dexamethasone; high altitude; high altitude cerebral edema; high altitude pulmonary edema