Mountain sickness test revealed

Doctors have developed the first test to identify people at risk from acute mountain sickness, a European conference heard yesterday.

Would-be mountaineers and trekkers could undergo the test before setting off.

But to take the test, they have to spend four hours at a high altitude, the EuroEcho-Imaging 2013 conference in Istanbul, Turkey, was told.

The researchers, who developed the test using the European Alps, say that people found at risk could possibly take medication or ensure they ascended slopes gradually.

About 30% of people are vulnerable to mountain sickness.

To develop the test, researchers took volunteers to a height of 3,842 metres in a cable car at Aiguille du Midi in the French Alps. The journey is in the world’s highest vertical ascent cable car.

After 24 hours 13 of the 34 volunteers developed symptoms of mountain sickness.

The researchers found their hearts had problems had adapting to low oxygen levels. Their O2 saturation was significantly lower and the systolic function of the right ventricle, evaluated by means of cardiac ultrasound, decreased – all in the presence of a similar increase in pulmonary artery pressure compared to subjects without AMS symptoms.

Researcher Dr Rosa Maria Bruno said combining the test of oxygen saturation with the ultra-sound test could predict the onset of mountain sickness after just four hours with an accuracy of 90%.

She said test itself could be very "simple and quick" but added: "However you need to go and stay 4 hours at high altitude to do this test. Future steps will be to test whether a shorter length of stay or experimental hypoxia (induced in the lab by breathing air with a reduced content of oxygen with a mask) are equally informative. We also need to confirm the validity of the test in a larger population."

She said that with the test "we can limit drug use (and side effects) only to those who will really need them, and give them special advice and recommendations such as avoiding high altitudes or spending more time ascending to allow time for acclimatisation.”