Wilderness Medical Society Mountain Medicine conference....experts from all over the world agree:
Feb 23, 2004 20: 47 EST
Just in from Whistler, BC at the Wilderness Medical Society Mountain Medicine conference....experts from all over the world agree:
Acetazolamide is the most effective medical agent for prevention of AMS. (Graded ascent is still the best prevention.)
The jury is still out on Gingko Biloba. To date, noone has completed a study with adequate numbers in which Gingko was given for adequate duration before ascent. I'm hoping that study will be done this spring on the Everest route to answer the question once and for all. (Many of us believe it works to prophylax against AMS in our anecdotal experience.)
NIfedipine is very useful for HAPE treatment and prevention.
More work needs to be done on Sildafenil (Viagra!) for treatment and prevention of HAPE, but the preliminary work (some done on Everest by Austrian doctors this past spring) looks very promising.
Advances have been made in the diagnosis and treatment of AMS in very young children. (For instance when they are too young to tell you they have a headache!)
The avalanche "airbag" is the most effective agent for survival in avalanche burial, and the Avalung has been used successfully in a few survival cases following burial.
On the horizon: studies to determine the BEST dosing for some of the above medications, viagra for HAPE, timing and dosing of Gingko for AMS prevention.
|
|
Feature Stories |
|
Latest News |
more news |
|
|
|
|
|
