Pulmonary arterial hypertension in man at altitude was first demonstrated by Rotta, Canepa. Hurtado. Velasquez & Chavez (1956). One year before Vega (1955) had published the first comprehensive clinical account of high altitude pulmonary oedema. Since the mid-sixties. interest in both pulmonary hypertension and pulmonary oedema at altitude has continued to generate a great deal of clinical and ...

Almost one mountain trekker or climber out of two develops several symptoms of high altitude illness after a rapid ascent (> 300 m/day) to an altitude above 4000 m. Individual susceptibility is the most important determinant for the occurrence of high altitude pulmonary oedema (HAPE). Symptoms associated with HAPE are incapacitating fatigue, chest tightness, dyspnoea at the slightest effort, or...

Heath, D., Moosavi, H., and Smith, P. (1973). Thorax, 28, 694-700. Ultrastructure of high altitude pulmonary oedema. When rats are exposed for 12 hours to simulated high altitude corresponding to the summit of Mount Everest, they develop ultrastructural changes in the lungs. These consist of the formation and protrusion of multiple endothelial vesicles into the pulmonary capillaries. It seems l...

High-altitude pulmonary oedema (HAPE) occurs in predisposed individuals at altitudes >2,500 m. Defective alveolar fluid clearance secondary to a constitutive impairment of the respiratory transepithelial sodium transport contributes to its pathogenesis. Hypoxia impairs the transepithelial sodium transport in alveolar epithelial type II cells in vitro. If this impairment is also present in vivo,...