Avalanche victims in cardiac arrest are unlikely to survive despite adherence to medical guidelines.

Aims: Our goals were to describe and analyse the medical management and clinical course of avalanche victims in cardiac arrest (CA), focusing on adherence to international recommendations on avalanche victims in CA regarding critical decisions.

Methods: We retrospectively included all avalanche victims with CA from 1st January 2004 to 1st June 2016 in a single physician-staffed alpine helicopter emergency medical service. Data regarding cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), transportation to hospital whilst undergoing CPR, and extracorporeal life support rewarming (ECLSR) for patients still in CA at hospital admission were abstracted from the prehospital and medical health records.

Indications and Outcomes of Helicopter Rescue Missions in Alpine Mountain Huts: A Retrospective Study.

Unlabelled: Pasquier, Mathieu, Louis Marxer, Hervé Duplain, Vincent Frochaux, Florence Selz, Pierre Métrailler, Grégoire Zen Ruffinen, and Olivier Hugli. Indications and outcomes of helicopter rescue missions in alpine mountain huts: A retrospective study. High Alt Med Biol 18:355-362, 2017.

Managing moderate and severe pain in mountain rescue.

Aims: We aimed to describe evidence-based options for prehospital analgesia, and to offer practical advice to physicians and nonphysicians working in mountain rescue.

Methods: A literature search was performed; the results and recommendations were discussed among the authors. Four authors considered a scenario.

Homemade thermometry instruments in the field.

Objective: Esophageal temperature is the gold standard for in-the-field temperature monitoring in hypothermic victims with cardiac arrest. For practical reasons, some mountain rescue teams use homemade esophageal thermometers to measure esophageal temperature; these consist of nonmedical inside/outside temperature monitoring instruments that have been modified to allow for esophageal insertion. We planned a study to determine the accuracy of such thermometers.

Fluid management in traumatic shock: a practical approach for mountain rescue. Official recommendations of the International Commission for Mountain Emergency Medicine (ICAR MEDCOM).

Sumann, Günther, Peter Paal, Peter Mair, John Ellerton, Tore Dahlberg, Gregoire Zen-Ruffinen, Ken Zafren, and Hermann Brugger. Fluid management in traumatic shock: a practical approach for mountain rescue. High Alt.

The use of extrication devices in crevasse accidents: official statement of the International Commission for Mountain Emergency Medicine and the Terrestrial Rescue Commission of the International Commission for Alpine Rescue intended for physicians, paramedics, and mountain rescuers.

Injured patients in crevasses who are suspected of having sustained spinal injuries should ideally be extricated after being immobilized in a horizontal position on a stretcher and having a cervical collar applied. Sometimes, however, horizontal stabilization is not possible, because the crevasse is too narrow, and the patient needs to be stabilized in a vertical position. In such cases an extrication device can be a useful adjunct.