Scientists climb Mt. Everest to explain how hearts adapt and recover from low oxygen
From the highest mountaintop comes a new research report in the FASEB Journal that gets to the bottom of what happens to the hearts of people when exposed to low-levels of oxygen, such as those on Mount Everest or in the intensive care unit of a hospital. In the study, researchers monitored subjects who spent time at the Mount Everest Base Camp and found that the low-level oxygen conditions at the base came caused changes in heart function resembling what is seen in conditions that severely restrict the amount of oxygen to the heart, such as cystic fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, emphysema, pneumonia, and some forms of heart failure. The good news, however, is that in six months, heart function for these mountain climbers returned to normal. This suggests that the same could be true for people in the ICU if the underlying cause can be corrected.