A Framework for Multinational Medical Support for the International Space Station: A Model for Exploration.

In the 1990s, Canada, member states of the European Space Agency, Japan, the Russian Federation, and the United States entered into an international agreement Concerning Cooperation on the Civil International Space Station. Among the many unique infrastructure challenges, partners were to develop a comprehensive international medical system and related processes to enable crew medical certification and medical support for all phases of missions, in a framework to support a multilateral space program of unprecedented size, scope, and degree of integration. During the Shuttle/Mir Program, physicians and specialized experts from the United States and Russia studied prototype systems and developed and operated collaborative mechanisms.

Orbital and intracranial effects of microgravity: findings at 3-T MR imaging.

Purpose: To identify intraorbital and intracranial abnormalities in astronauts previously exposed to microgravity by using quantitative and qualitative magnetic resonance (MR) techniques.

Materials And Methods: The institutional review board approved this HIPAA-compliant, retrospective review and waived the requirement for informed consent. Twenty-seven astronauts (mean age ± standard deviation, 48 years ± 4.

Optic disc edema, globe flattening, choroidal folds, and hyperopic shifts observed in astronauts after long-duration space flight.

Purpose: To describe the history, clinical findings, and possible etiologies of ophthalmic findings discovered in 7 astronauts after long-duration space flight, and document vision changes in approximately 300 additional astronauts.

Design: Retrospective, observational examination of ophthalmic findings in 7 astronauts and analysis of postflight questionnaires regarding in-flight vision changes in approximately 300 additional astronauts.

Participants: Seven astronauts with ophthalmic anomalies upon return from long-duration space missions to the International Space Station and 300 additional astronauts who completed postflight questionnaires regarding in-flight vision changes.

Human health and performance for long-duration spaceflight.

Future long-duration spaceflights are now being planned to the Moon and Mars as a part of the "Vision for Space Exploration" program initiated by NASA in 2004. This report describes the design reference missions for the International Space Station, Lunar Base, and eventually a Mars Expedition. There is a need to develop more stringent preflight medical screening for crewmembers to minimize risk factors for diseases which cannot be effectively treated in flight.

Autonomous medical care for exploration class space missions.

The US-based health care system of the International Space Station contains several subsystems, the Health Maintenance System, Environmental Health System and the Countermeasure System. These systems are designed to provide primary, secondary and tertiary medical prevention strategies. The medical system deployed in low Earth orbit for the International Space Station is designed to support a "stabilize and transport" concept of operations.

Fetal evaluation for transport by ultrasound performed by air medical teams: A case series.

The air medical team has limited options when evaluating the obstetrical patient and assessing fetal health during air transport to a high-risk obstetrical unit. Traditionally, physical examination and a Doppler stethoscope have been used to determine fetal heart rates and movement. However, with the advent of portable ultrasound technology, new information about the mother and child are available to the air medical crew.

Prehospital tracheal intubating conditions during rapid sequence intubation: rocuronium versus vecuronium.

Introduction: The study purpose was to evaluate tracheal intubating conditions and cardiovascular effects of rocuronium (roc) and vecuronium (vec) in the transport setting.

Methods: A prospective blinded study of adult patients requiring emergency rapid sequence oral tracheal intubation using direct laryngoscopy. Patients received equipotent doses of roc 1.