History of High-Altitude Diseases

Abstract

This chapter is devoted to the history of diseases of high-altitude with an emphasis on acute mountain sickness, high-altitude pulmonary edema, and high-altitude cerebral edema. The history is considered up to the 1960s. More recent studies, for example, on the pathogenesis of high-altitude pulmonary edema, will be referred to in Chapter 12. Chronic mountain sickness (Monge’s disease) will not be considered here but is dealt with in Chapter 7. High-altitude retinal hemorrhage is briefly discussed in Chapter 10.