Studying hypoxia: blood gas analysis at Everest’s peak

The Xtreme Everest 2 team, a leading hypoxia research organisation, recently returned from a three-month expedition to Mount Everest. The British-American research team, consisting of 11 doctors, nurses and researchers from University College London, the University of Southampton and Duke University (North Carolina) set up their tents at Mount Everest’s south base camp 60 years after man’s first ascent to the top of the world’s highest mountain. The objective was to learn more about how hypoxia affects humans. Two-fifths of intensive care patients die,1 in many cases as a result of oxygen deficiency (hypoxia).

From mountain top to ICU
During the expedition, tests were conducted at various altitudes, with the main laboratory situated at Everest base camp, some 5364 metres above sea level. With just half as much oxygen in the air as at sea level, the volunteers’ blood oxygen levels closely reflected the levels experienced by patients suffering from hypoxia, as witnessed by the team in their daily roles within critical care and intensive care units (ICUs).

The scientists were accompanied by a cross-section of the population. Some 100 adults aged between 20 and 73 from the UK and Europe joined the expedition to represent a randomised model of an ICU population. Twelve children aged between eight and 17, chaperoned by medical colleagues at Great Ormond Street Hospital, also joined the team for part of the trip. In addition, 65 Sherpas, natives to the mountainous regions of Nepal, were studied to examine the difference in adaptation to low-oxygen environments when compared to lowlanders. The doctors conducted thousands of tests on themselves and the other participants, taking more than 4000 blood samples in the process.