title: Airplane transport isolators may loose leak tightness after rapid cabin decompression.
abstract: Air medical transport of patients suffering of highly infectious diseases is typically performed employing portable isolation chambers. Although the likelihood of decompression flight emergencies is low, sustainability of the devices used is crucial. When a standard isolation unit was subjected to an explosive cabin decompression of 493 hPa, simulating a 32808 ft flight level accident, leak tightness of the unit was lost due to rupture of the bag caused by over expansion. When the pressure chamber experiment was repeated with a modified unit, distension was minimized by an additional compensation air bag, thus ensuring leak tightness.
authors.affiliation: Swiss Air Rescue, REGA, Zürich, Switzerland. roland.albrecht@rega.ch.|Department of Anesthesiology, Kantonsspital, St. Gallen, Switzerland. roland.albrecht@rega.ch.
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Albrecht
authors.affiliation: Aeromedical Institute, Swiss Air Force, Dübendorf, Switzerland. andres.kunz@vtg.admin.ch.
authors.forename: Andres
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kunz
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, AUVA Trauma Center, Dr.-Franz-Rehrl-Platz 5, A-5010, Salzburg, Austria. wolfgang.voelckel@auva.at.|ÖAMTC Austrian Air Rescue, Vienna, Austria. wolfgang.voelckel@auva.at.|Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria. wolfgang.voelckel@auva.at.|Paracelsus Private Medical University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria. wolfgang.voelckel@auva.at.|Department of Health Studies, University of Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway. wolfgang.voelckel@auva.at.
authors.forename: Wolfgang G
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Voelckel
mesh_terms: D000060:Accidents, Aviation; D017732:Air Ambulances; D004630:Emergencies; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control / Q000295:instrumentation*; D010356:Patient Isolation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D011312:Pressure; D013557:Switzerland; D014741:Video Recording