Unilateral high-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE): a case report and discussion of pathophysiology.

High-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE), a potentially life-threatening altitude adaptation disorder, is considered to be caused by an exaggerated increase in pulmonary blood pressure and a non-cardiogenic rise in pulmonary vascular permeability subsequent to alveolar hypoxia. A 40-year-old male mountaineer was affected by an advanced stage of HAPE at high altitude (Monte Rosa plateau, 4000 m). The symptoms abated immediately after the patient descended from the altitude.

[Diagnosis and therapy of acute altitude sickness].

Today we distinguish cerebral (acute mountain sickness AMS, high altitude cerebral edema HACE) and pulmonal (high altitude pulmonary edema HAPE) altitude disorders. Incidence, predisposition and risk factors of all kinds of altitude sickness vary both individually and geographically. For practical reasons the leading symptoms are essential: altitude headache, ataxia and sudden loss of strength.

[Etiology, clinical aspects and therapy of altitude sickness].

Experimental and clinical tests carried out over the last few years have brought many new and important insights into the pathophysiology of the so-called high-altitude sickness. Overall, new, scientifically proven methods for the acute therapy of various forms of high-altitude sickness have been made, which can be used for medical practice. Azetazolamide: The clinical effectiveness and the improvement of the exchange of body gases seem to be, to a large extent, scientifically proven.