A research team has used a Rapidlab 348 Blood Gas Analyser from Siemens to study hypoxia levels on Mount Everest, to aid the development of treatment for critically ill patients.
Doctors from University College London (UCL) wanted to investigate human adaptation to hypoxia and establish whether high-altitude climbers would have blood oxygen-levels similar to those of dying patients at sea-level.
The results were recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).
Dr Mike Grocott, Caudwell Xtreme Everest expedition leader and a UCL senior lecturer in critical care medicine, said: 'We ran tests in a hypobaric chamber before the expedition to ascertain which blood gas analysers would be suitable for the intense conditions.
'The Siemens unit proved to be highly robust and delivered reliable and consistent results.' The Caudwell Xtreme Everest climbing doctors took blood from an artery in the leg when they were close to the summit of Mount Everest at 8,400M above sea-level.
Blood collected from four team members was then carried down to a science laboratory set up at 6,400M, to be analysed within two hours.
The blood samples were analysed by the Rapidlab unit to provide the partial pressures of arterial oxygen (PaO2), carbon dioxide (PaCO2) and the pH of the samples.
The expedition found the average arterial oxygen-level to be 3.28 kilopascals (kPa); the normal value in humans is 12-14kPa and patients with a level below 8kPa are considered critically ill.
It is hoped the findings will pave the way for the re-evaluation of treatment in long-term patients with similarly low levels of blood oxygen.
By taking into account that some patients may have adapted to low levels of oxygen in the blood, ongoing research may lead to better treatment for patients with conditions such as cystic fibrosis, emphysema and septic shock.
