High-altitude illness: Management approach

People are increasingly interested in travelling to high altitudes forseveral purposes; for fun, for work or sportive activities. In high alti-tudes, usually accepted as above 2500 m, travelers are faced with de-creased partial pressure of oxygen along with decreased barometricpressure.1The adaptability of the human body to hypobaric hypoxia isquite successful but requires time to do so. If the time of high elevationis faster than the process of acute acclimatization, then high-altitudeillness (HAI) occurs.High-altitude illness is a group of syndromes that results from hy-poxia which is the major parameter causing a series of physiologicalalterations.2HAI has three forms; acute mountain sickness (AMS), high-altitude cerebral edema (HACE) and high-altitude pulmonary edema(HAPE). The pathophysiology of HAI is partially well understood whileprevention and treatment strategies are mostly based on low qualityevidences.In this review it is intended to provide detailed information aboutpathophysiology, clinical features, prevention and treatment strategiesfor HAI according to current literature.