Mount Everest
And suddenly the mountaineering scene is discussing a noble gas that we all probably heard about in chemistry lessons at school. But most of us have forgotten all about it. Xenon is one of the rarest elements found on earth. Although it is in the air we breathe, the proportion of xenon is tiny: 87 billionths or 0.0000087 percent (I hope I didn’t make a mistake with the zeros).
If you want to extract xenon, this almost-nothing proportion has to be extracted from the air in a complex process. This makes the gas expensive. But it is also in demand. Xenon is used for light sources (such as car lamps), as a laser gas in the semiconductor industry, as a propulsion agent for satellites, in medicine as a high-tech anesthetic – and probably soon also in commercial eight-thousander mountaineering.
Body produces more EPO by leaps and bounds
As reported, British clients of Austrian expedition operator Furtenbach Adventures are to fly to Nepal, climb Mount Everest and return home in just one week in the coming spring season. Before the trip, they have pre-acclimatized themselves with hypoxia training. They will also inhale a xenon/oxygen mixture under medical supervision in Kathmandu. The proportion of xenon is said to be significantly lower than in anesthesia. According to the plan, the climbers will then be flown by helicopter to Everest Base Camp, from where they will make their way directly to the summit – with bottled oxygen and Sherpa support.
The effect of the xenon exposure: the kidneys produce more EPO by leaps and bounds, resulting in significantly more red blood cells. A rapid acclimatization by inhalation, so to speak. “There is no health risk,” Lukas Furtenbach, who has tested the method on himself several times, told me.
Mount Everest (before sunrise, seen from Gokyo Ri)
Dr. Ulf Gieseler, an internist and cardiologist from the German town of Heidelberg, who is also a mountaineer and expedition doctor, considers this statement to be “audacious”. For example, a rapid increase in red blood cells can cause the blood to thicken, “as the hematocrit (the proportion of blood cells in relation to the total blood volume) can rise uncontrollably, which means that thromboses and pulmonary embolisms are pre-programmed”, writes Gieseler in a comment on my previous report on the topic.
I wrote to Dr. Michael Fries. The head physician for anesthesia and intensive care medicine at St. Vincenz Hospital in the German town of Limburg an der Lahn had given Furtenbach the Xenon tip a few years ago and advised him. Here are his answers to my three questions:
Is the use of xenon really safe – for example, if (even accidentally) a too high dosage is selected in the mixing ratio to oxygen?
In principle, I consider the use of xenon to be very safe. Xenon has been used medically for decades. On the one hand as an anesthetic during operations, but also as part of the treatment of critically ill patients. Last but not least, it is also used in certain radiological examinations. Due to the rarity of the gas, which means high costs, special devices have to be used to apply it.
I am not aware of any serious, especially long-term complications with any of these medical applications. Nausea and vomiting rarely occur during acute use (i.e. shortly after application). This is why xenon is also approved by the authorities as an anesthetic. The mixing ratio is monitored by the device used; the application is also ensured by a specialist. However, both components are essential.
There have not yet been any studies on the use of xenon at very high altitude, only experiments by individuals such as Lukas Furtenbach. Against this background, is it responsible from a medical point of view to use “xenon showers” on commercial expeditions?
First of all, I also find the term “xenon shower” a little tendentious. For all substances that are supposed to prevent AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness), there are no studies from altitudes above 5,000 meters. In view of the very high safety profile of xenon, I therefore consider its use to be fundamentally justified. I would also like to add that the administration of xenon is only part of the preparation for high altitudes. The FT article (the Financial Times was the first medium to report on this) suggests that the undertaking is possible through the use of xenon alone. This is not correct.
Low-cost expedition operator may be tempted to experiment with xenon without medical assistance. Is medical supervision of the use of the inert gas absolutely necessary?
Absolutely. Only a doctor trained in its use and with the appropriate equipment will be able to administer it adequately and sufficiently. As described above. Then, in my opinion, the use is safe.
