Death in avalanche
Jun 10, 2007 11: 48 EST
One of the most common causes of death in mountaineering is avalanche, which is why folks who spend time in avalanche prone sites need to spend time educating themselves in predicting safety in the snow. In a recent publication, European researchers found that the most common cause of death in avalanche is not traumatic injury, but suffocation (many of us hope the end was mercifully swift, that those buried were knocked out or killed instantly.) But there is some good news here -- knowledge of prevalent cause of death in avalanche helps us concentrate on perfecting already existing technology to keep victims breathing, enabling rescuers to find and uncover the buried. Read on from the abstract in the March edition of High Altitude Medicine and Biology:
In avalanche accidents, the significance of major trauma as a cause of morbidity and mortality is controversial. The aim of this retrospective study is to determine the severity and pattern of injury in avalanche victims admitted to the University Hospital of Innsbruck between 1996 and 2005. A total of 49 significant injuries were found in 105 avalanche victims; the most frequent were of the extremities (n = 20), the chest (n = 18), and the spine (n = 7). In contrast, cerebral (n = 2), abdominal visceral (n = 1), and pelvic trauma (n = 1) were rare. The severity of injury was minor or moderate in most patients, with only 9 (8.6%) being severely or critically injured. Of 105 (34.3%) avalanche victims, 36 died. Autopsy was performed in 30 of 36 nonsurvivors. The cause of death in the remaining 6 victims was concluded from clinical, radiological, and electrophysiological findings. Trauma was responsible for deaths of only 2 avalanche victims (5.6%); both had cervical spine fractures with dislocation leading to death. One death was due to hypothermia, whereas the remaining 33 fatalities (91.7%) were due to asphyxia. The incidence of life-threatening or lethal trauma was well below 10%. Asphyxia is by far the most important reason for death. Deaths from trauma were solely due to isolated cervical injuries, demonstrating that the cervical spine may be a region at particular risk in avalanche victims.
Reference the entire article:
Hohlrieder, Matthias, Hermann Brugger, Heinrich M. Schubert, Marion Pavlic, John Ellerton, and Peter Mair. Pattern and severity of injury in avalanche victims. High Alt. Med. Biol. 8:56–61, 2007.
More avalanche information:
http://avalanche.org/
Photo of Lingtren avalanche at Everest Base Camp, Nepal.
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