CHRONIC MOUNTAIN SICKNESS

Abstract

The resident of high altitudes, native or newcomer, lives in a condition of chronic anoxia, as shown by the lowering of the arterial oxygen saturation.¹The existence of a complete adaptation to this condition, when moderate or severe in degree, and the level of altitude at which the required compensatory processes cease to be within physiologic limits still remain as problems to be elucidated. In 1928 Monge²indicated that an accentuation of the polycythemia commonly found in residents of high altitudes constitutes a main alteration among the various conditions which characterize the loss of tolerance to a low barometric pressure environment. In subsequent writings Monge³described the symptoms and signs which accompany the hematologic disorder to which the names of chronic mountain sickness, high altitude erythremia and Monge's disease have been given. The disappearance of the polycythemia on descent to a lower altitude or to sea level