Right Heart-Pulmonary Circulation at High Altitude and the Development of Subclinical Pulmonary Interstitial Edema.

ABSTRACT

Most healthy subjects can develop a subclinical interstitial pulmonary edema that is a complex and multifactor phenomenon, still with unanswered questions, and might be one line of defense against the development of severe symptomatic lung edema. Whether the acute, reversible increase in lung fluid content is really an innocent and benign part of the adaptation to extreme physiologic condition or rather the clinically relevant marker of an individual vulnerability to life-threatening high altitude pulmonary edema remains to be established in future studies. Thus the question if encouraging more conservative habits to climb is right or not remains open.