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Abstract #1893

The Role of Cerebral Oedema in the Development of Acute Mountain Sickness: A MRI Study

Ravjit Singh Sagoo 1 , Victoria Bull 2 , Helen Parsons 3 , Sarah Wayte 4 , Eddie Ng'andwe 1 , Charles Handford 5 , Mahmud Saedon 6 , Chris Koller 2 , Alex Wright 7,8 , Arthur Bradwell 7,8 , Christopher Imray 6,8 , and Charles Hutchinson 1,9

1 Department of Imaging, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, Coventry, United Kingdom, 2 Department of Clinical Physics and Bioengineering, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, Coventry, United Kingdom, 3 Division of Health Sciences, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom, 4 Department of Medical Physics, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, Coventry, United Kingdom, 5 University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, United Kingdom, 6 Department of Surgery, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, Coventry, United Kingdom, 7 University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom, 8 Birmingham Medical Research Expeditionary Society, Birmingham, United Kingdom, 9 University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom

Acute mountain sickness (AMS) develops in individuals following rapid ascent to high altitudes with low atmospheric oxygen levels. One of the proposed theories is that AMS may be due to an increase in intracranial pressure as a result of cerebral oedema. Based on changes in serial apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps over a 22-hour period of normobaric hypoxia, we demonstrated that ADC values were significantly higher within the corpus callosum at 11 and 22 hours compared to baseline (p<0.01), representing oedema. This change was independent of the presence of AMS. No other significant changes in cerebral ADC values were observed.

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