Nepalese south side of Mount Everest
In the debate about the planned use of the noble gas xenon with the aim of shortening the duration of Everest expeditions to one week, the international alpinism association UIAA has now also intervened. “According to current [scientific] literature, there is no evidence that breathing in xenon improves performance in the mountains, and inappropriate use can be dangerous,” reads a statement from the UIAA Medical Commission.
Xenon is an anesthetic gas, and thus a medicine, with corresponding adverse effects and health risks, it says. “In an unmonitored setting this could be impaired brain function, respiratory compromise, and even death,” writes the UIAA commission. “One study showed significant sedation in people using it at doses recommended for mountaineering, Even slight sedation is detrimental in the potentially dangerous setting of high-altitude mountaineering.”
UIAA: “Xenon should be reserved for the operating room”
The UIAA experts add that acclimatization is an extremely complex process: “Since the physiological changes take days to weeks to influence the organism, from a physiological point of view, a single, one-off drug cannot be the key to improved acclimatization or increased performance. For erythropoietin in particular, the target of xenon, the effects take weeks to increase red blood cells, so use just before climbing would not be expected to make any difference in hemoglobin, hematocrit or performance.”
The statement also points out that the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) had already placed xenon on the list of banned substances in 2014 – although this is not relevant for high-altitude mountaineering, as it is not a competitive sport.
Austrian expedition operator Lukas Furtenbach, who wants to use xenon with a group of clients next spring, is unlikely to like the conclusion of the UIAA doctors: “Xenon is rarely used in medicine and is not approved in all countries. Its use should be reserved for the operating room and procedural sedation by specialists with appropriate training in anesthesia. From a medical point of view, off-label use without a scientific basis and with unknown health risks must be rejected.”
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