High altitude medicine & biology
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High Alt. Med. Biol. · Mar 2020
Spleen Volume and Contraction During Apnea in Mt. Everest Climbers and Everest Base Camp Trekkers.
The human spleen can contract and transiently boost the blood with stored erythrocytes. We measured spleen volume and contraction during apneas in two groups, each containing 12 Caucasian participants (each 3 women): one group planning to summit Mt. Everest (8848 m; "Climbers") and another trekking to Everest Base Camp (5300 m; "Trekkers"). ⋯ Three apneas in six of the Climbers resulted in a spleen volume reduction from 348 (145) to 202 (91) mL (p = 0.005) and an Hb elevation from 147.9 (13.1) to 153.3 (11.3) g/L (p = 0.024). Maximal apneic duration was longer in Climbers [88 (23) seconds vs. 67 (18) seconds in Trekkers; p = 0.023]. We concluded that a large spleen characterizes Climbers, suggesting that spleen function may be important for high-altitude climbing performance.