Aeromedical Transportation in an Area Intensive Care Unit: Experimental Study of Aircraft Pilots Undergoing Non-Invasive in-Flight Intracranial Pressure Measurement

Abstract

Introduction: In certain emergency situations, a patient admitted to a hospital with fewer resources needs to be transferred quickly to a unit better prepared to deal with them. This is when the aeromedical transport service is needed. For this, the aircraft must be staffed by specialized health professionals and have a variety of resources to provide the best care for the patient. Objectives: 1) The general objective of this article was to analyze changes in intracranial pressure (ICP) in Brazilian Air Force pilots undergoing a level straight flight. 2) To help collect data for the development of a non-invasive sensor for monitoring ICP in flight. 3). To verify whether the equipment for measuring non-invasive Intracranial Pressure can be used in air ICUs. Materials and Methods: The work evaluated the presence of morphological changes in non-invasive ICP during level straight flight lasting 30 min among 10 (ten) pilots who volunteered for the collection. Results: It was observed that the ICP pulse waveform did not change during straight level flight, when compared to normal resting situations of an individual in a collection in a terrestrial environment, demonstrating the reliability of the equipment and the research. Final considerations: This study has helped to understand not only the need for rapid diagnosis of non-invasive ICP, but also the possible suitability of this equipment in aircraft prepared for rapid diagnosis and tratament.