Prevention and treatment of high altitude cerebral edema (HACE)

Mazur Karol, Machaj Dominik, Jastrzębska Sandra, Płaczek Alicja, Mazur Dominika. Prevention and treatment of high altitude cerebral edema (HACE). Journal of Education, Health and Sport. 2020;10(2):120-125. eISSN 2391-8306. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/JEHS.2020.10.02.016 https://apcz.umk.pl/czasopisma/index.php/JEHS/article/view/JEHS.2020.10.02.016 https://zenodo.org/record/3678378 The journal has had 5 points in Ministry of Science and Higher Education parametric evaluation. § 8. 2) and § 12. 1. 2) 22.02.2019. © The Authors 2020; This article is published with open access at Licensee Open Journal Systems of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author (s) and source are credited. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non commercial license Share alike. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited. The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper. Received: 15.01.2020. Revised: 25.01.2020. Accepted: 21.02.2020. Prevention and treatment of high altitude cerebral edema (HACE) Karol Mazur, Dominik Machaj, Sandra Jastrzębska, Alicja Płaczek, Dominika Mazur Karol Mazur, mazurkarol79@gmail.com, Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Lublin, Chodźki Street 19, 20-093 Lublin, Poland Dominik Machaj, dominik5a4@tlen.pl, Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Lublin, Chodźki Street 19, 20-093 Lublin, Poland Sandra Jastrzębska, Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Lublin, Chodźki Street 19, 20-093 Lublin, Poland Alicja Płaczek, Medical Faculty, University of Rzeszow, Pigonia Street 6, 35-310 Rzeszow, Poland Dominika Mazur, dominika.hul20@gmail.com, Medical Faculty, University of Rzeszow, Pigonia Street 6, 35-310 Rzeszow, Poland Summary: High altitude cerebral edema (HACE) is often a severe and potentially fatal manifestation of acute mountain sickness (AMS). It usually develops within the first 2 in individuals rapidly ascending at altitudes above 4000 m. The main cause of HACE is hypoxia, because of reduced oxygen level at high altitude. The aim of this study was to assess the methods of prevention and treatment of high altitude cerebral edema (HACE). Our study material consisted of publications, which were found in PubMed, ResearchGate and Google Scholar databases. The first step was to find proper publications from the last 30 years. The second step was to carry out an overview of the found publications. Methods of prevention of acute mountain sickness are highly effective in high altitude cerebral edema prevention. Many studies established the role of gradual ascent and staged ascent as well as administration of acetazolamide and dexamethasone in AMS prevention, and therefore in HACE prevention. Methods of treatments of acute mountain sickness are highly effective in high altitude cerebral edema treatment. Several researches proved the role of descent, administration of acetazolamide and dexamethasone, oxygen therapy as well as use of portable hyperbaric chamber in AMS treatment, and therefore in HACE treatment. However HACE treatment requires greater descent and larger doses of dexamethasone. Also duration of recovery is longer. Key words: high altitude cerebral edema, HACE, prevention, treatmen