High Altitude Pulmonary Edema
Climbing tall mountains can induce full lung hypoxia due to decreased atmospheric pressure. This hypoxia causes hypoxic vasoconstriction that ultimately leads to high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE). For this reason, most climbers carry supplemental oxygen to prevent hypoxia, edema, and HAPE. The standard drug treatment of dexamethasone does not alter the hypoxia or the consequent vasoconstriction, but stimulates fluid reabsorption in the lungs to reverse the edema.
Read more about this topic: Hypoxic Pulmonary Vasoconstriction
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