Air Medical Casualty Evacuation in High Altitude: An Experience of 100 Cases in High Altitude and Hilly Terrain of Northern India

Abstract

Objectives: This article describes the on ground challenges faced by the medical care team deployed for transferring critically ill patients by air from remote locations of the high altitude and hilly terrain to definitive health care facility. Methods: All intubated critical patients requiring definitive and super specialty medical care, transferred by air from high altitude hilly terrain to tertiary care hospital during Jan 2016 to Dec year 2020, analyzed in this retrospective study. Results: The total duration of flight was between 40 – 150 min and average being 83 min. Twenty four patients were transferred by fixed wing aircraft and rest 76 by helicopters. All patient were given sedation in form of injection fentanyl 1mcg/kg in dividing doses and boluses of propofol 10 mg intravenously during transfer. The most common change noticed was fall in oxygen saturation with incidence almost 100% of the patients. The mean fall in saturation was 17.29%. Four patients required injection atropine for bradycardia which resulted with decrease of Saturation of peripheral oxygen (SpO2). Conclusion: Transferring a critically ill patient by road to distant medical centers is often not an option because of losing the golden hour of the medical care. Here comes the importance of aeromedical evacuation for a timely transfer for early medical attention. But shifting the critical patients through aerial mode requires planning and poses a variety of challenges. Keywords: Air­evacuation, High altitude, Air ambulance