This pre-eminent work has developed over six editions in response to man's attempts to climb higher and higher unaided, and to spend more time at altitude for both work and recreation. Building on this established reputation, the new and highly experienced authors provide a fully revised and updated text that will help doctors continue to improve the health and safety of all people who visit, live or work in the cold, thin air of high mountains. The sixth edition remains invaluable for any doctor accompanying an expedition or advising patients on a visit to altitude, those specialising in illness and accidents in high places, and for physicians and physiologists who study our dependence on oxygen and the adaptation of the body to altitude.

A comprehensive update to this preeminent and accessible text, this fifth edition of a bestseller was developed as a response to man's attempts to climb unaided to higher altitudes and to spend more time in these conditions for both work and recreation. It describes the ever-expanding challenges that doctors face in dealing with the changes in huma

This pre-eminent work has developed over six editions in response to man's attempts to climb higher and higher unaided, and to spend more time at altitude for both work and recreation. Building on this established reputation, the new and highly experienced authors provide a fully revised and updated text that will help doctors continue to improve the health and safety of all people who visit, live or work in the cold, thin air of high mountains. The sixth edition remains invaluable for any doctor accompanying an expedition or advising patients on a visit to altitude, those specialising in illness and accidents in high places, and for physicians and physiologists who study our dependence on oxygen and the adaptation of the body to altitude.

HE history of high-altitude physiology and medicine is such a rich and T colorful topic that it is perhaps surprising that no one has undertaken a comprehensive account before. There are so many interesting ramifications, from the early balloonists to the various high-altitude expeditions, culminating in the great saga of climbing Mt. Everest without supplementary oxygen. Underpinning this variety is the basic biological challenge of hypoxia and the ways organisms adapt to it, a subject that is of key importance in medicine and many other life sciences, encountered as it is by organisms throughout the animal kingdom. I hope that this book will be of interest to a wide range of people, from biologists and physiologists to pulmonologists and others who manage patients with hypoxemia. The topic should also appeal to those who love the mountains including trekkers, skiers, climbers, and mountaineers. The book begins with a short introductory chapter to set the scene for the non-scientist. It then follows a general chronological sequence beginning with the Greeks and ending with contemporary events. In some places, however some compromises have been made to group together areas of related interest. For example, in Chapter 4 the controversy about oxygen secretion is traced from the 1870s to the 1930s and includes the Anglo-American Pikes Peak Ex pedition of 1911 and the International High-Altitude Expedition to Cerro de Pasco, Peru during 1921-1922. It makes sense to consider these events together.

High altitude physiology and medicine has again become important. The excep tional achievements of mountaineers who have climbed nearly all peaks over 8,000 m without breathing equipment raise the question of maximal adaptation ca pacity of man to low oxygen pressures. More importantly, the increase in tourism in the Andes and the Himalayas brings over 10,000 people to sites at altitudes above 4,000 and 5,000 m each year. At such heights several kinds of high alti tude diseases are likely to occur, and these complications require detailed medical investigations. Medical authorities need to inform both mountaineers and tourists as to how great a physical burden can be taken in the mountain environment without risk to health. Physicians need to know what kind of prophylaxis is to be employed at high altitudes to prevent the development of diseases and what therapeutic measures should be used once high altitude diseases have occurred. Moreover, the physical condition of the indigenous population living at higher altitudes such as the Andes and the Himalayas, who are exposed continuously to the stress of high altitude, requires our attention. We have become familiar with symptoms characteristic of chronic high-altitude disease: under special conditions this popu lation has a tendency to develop pulmonary hypertension, which is associated with pulmonary edema, pulmonary congestion, and right heart failure.

This book reviews the research pertaining to nutrient requirements for working in cold or in high-altitude environments and states recommendations regarding the application of this information to military operational rations. It addresses whether, aside from increased energy demands, cold or high-altitude environments elicit an increased demand or requirement for specific nutrients, and whether performance in cold or high-altitude environments can be enhanced by the provision of increased amounts of specific nutrients.

This highly practical guide is ideal for any medical professional who deals with the aerospace environment or is involved in the healthcare of aircrew or individuals preparing for or returning from aerospace travel. The book covers all the main aspects of aerospace medicine, including the salient physiology and clinical aspects in note form for rapid assimilation, and makes plentiful use of figures, algorithms and tables throughout. Key Features: • Comprehensive covering all aspects of clinical aerospace medicine and relevant physiology • Note-based for rapid reference in the clinical setting • Highly practical with illustrations and tables supporting the text throughout • From a highly experienced international team of editors and contributors • Ideal as a handbook companion, complementing the definitive reference Ernsting’s Aviation and Space Medicine, for use ‘on the go’ The book will be an indispensable companion to all civil and military aviation medicine practitioners including those preparing for professional qualifying examinations, and a useful aid for other physicians with an interest in aviation medicine or who are required to inform patients regularly regarding the likely effects of flight, including family practitioners and hospital doctors, physiologists with an interest in the area and occupational and public health personnel.