Acute Mountain Sickness i...

A 40 year old man started his trekking 4 days ago from Lukla (2800m) in the Everest region of Nepal. He reached Tengboche (3860 m) on third day where he was short of breath with moderate exertion and was easily fatigued. He ascended further ignoring his symptoms and reached Dingboche (4410m) on fourth day. He was extremely tired, short of breath at rest and appeared ill so helicopter evacuation was done to a nearby hospital. On initial evaluation, his vital signs were temperature 97.8 F, blood pressure 124/66 mmHg, pulse rate 89/min, respiratory rate of 26 breaths/min and saturation (SpO2) of 80% on room air at rest. Auscultation of the lungs revealed bilateral crackles. On evaluation the next day, his pulmonary crackles had resolved and he was no more short of breath. His ambulatory SpO2 was 96% on room air.