Lowest Blood Oxygen Levels Ever Recorded

Posted by Miss Cellania in Medicine on January 8, 2009 at 11:53 pm


Medical researchers went to Mount Everest and took samples of their own blood while near the peak. What they found was shocking!

An average person at sea level has about 13-14 kilopascals (kPa) of oxygen in their bloodstream, University College of London medical researcher Dan Martin says. When his intensive care patients drop to around 8 kPa he gets very worried, and a normal person with 6 kPa of oxygen faces almost certain death. Imagine his shock, then, when he and three colleagues on the top of Mount Everest measured their own blood oxygen level to be between 2.5 and 4 kPa, the lowest ever measured in live people.

Martin and his colleagues -all experienced climbers- also took muscle biopsies while on the mountain. They hope their findings may lead to knowledge that will help patients in intensive care, where sudden oxygen drops can lead to death. Link -via Digg

(image credit: Pavel Novak)


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10 comments to "Lowest Blood Oxygen Levels Ever Recorded"

  1. Jerse
    January 9th, 2009 at 2:03 am

    bkood

  2. shecky
    January 9th, 2009 at 3:03 am

    Yet another good reason to stay the hell off that barren ice covered rock.

  3. DaveL
    January 9th, 2009 at 4:16 am

    There's something dodgy about their claims IMHO. Either their test methodology was faulty (for instance, perhaps they didn't properly account for the roughly 35% change in atmospheric pressure from the altitude where they took the samples to where the readings were made) or they knew that measuring a gas at different pressures would produce these results and are just looking for some suckers to help fund their hobby.

  4. just a guy
    January 9th, 2009 at 5:45 am

    I'm suprised medical scientist didn't consider the implications of the lower-pressured atmosphere at high altitudes. I'm sure that has something to do with it.

  5. LV
    January 9th, 2009 at 9:19 am

    Climbing a mountain is not a sudden thing. There is no sudden drop in blood oxygen levels.The body has time to adjust and compensate.

  6. Gail Pink
    January 9th, 2009 at 10:13 am

    Maybe they were dead, having "bkood" and all...

  7. Miss Cellania
    January 9th, 2009 at 10:21 am

    Wow, I am just now starting to get comment notification on this. I will correct the spelling. Thanks!

  8. Rocky Rook
    January 9th, 2009 at 10:43 am

    Wow. I'll stay away from Everest for a while.

  9. Brenda Coulter
    January 9th, 2009 at 12:01 pm

    The other commenters have made some excellent points. I'd just like to add that an individual in intensive care is either extremely sick or badly injured. Comparing that half-dead person's low blood oxygen to that of a healthy mountain climber whose body has had several weeks to adapt to high altitude and who is also experiencing one adrenalin rush after another seems foolish in the extreme.

  10. Ashley
    January 9th, 2009 at 1:05 pm

    Not necessarily foolish. Extra information never hurts. It's possible the body releases a chemical at such low pressures that allows the body to absorb oxygen at low pressures and release it when the pressure difference may not be substantial. Changes in the relative affinity of the hemoglobin for oxygen. Fetal hemoglobin, for example, has a higher affinity for oxygen than adult hemoglobin, allowing the fetus to steal oxygen more effectively from the mother.


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