Everest study into low oxygen

Last Modified: 04 Jan 2007
By: Julian Rush

A pioneering study will look at how the human body adapts to low oxygen levels.

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Initiated by the University College London, the £1.5m Xtreme Everest medical experiment will see a team of 40 doctors and 200 volunteers climb up and down the mountain. The volunteer's brain, lung and circulation will be tested before they trek up Mount Everest and at various altitude levels.

A base camp will be set up at 5,300 metres, and medical labs at 7,000 metres and at the summit of 8,850 metres, where they will be tested again.

Medics hope to become the first in the world to take blood samples at such a great height.

It is hoped that the study will help doctors understand more about how critically ill patients react to low oxygen levels in the blood and how to improve treatment.

The study has attracted worldwide attention with doctors across the globe hoping to use the results to help their patients.

A team of medics carried out a trial run on the Himalayan peak, Cho Oyu, at a height of 8,201 metres, at the end of last year.