Version 2.1
Post date: May 01, 2014 4:45:3 AM
Proposed EPAP therapy setup for treatment of HAPE. Please feel free to email us at ideas@rtwb.ca, subject 'EPAP', with your design changes.
In the fall of 2013, RTWB empowered our local Healthcare Education Partner (HEP) - the Himalayan Rescue Association - Pheriche Clinic to successfully save 8 patients with High Altitude Pulmonary Edema with CPAP therapy. Special thanks to Coastal Sleep (www.coastalsleep.ca) for their donation of a CPAP unit that continues to be used to save lives in a resource lacking environment.
This video is a proposed mockup of an EPAP therapy setup for the treatment of HAPE which will
a) significantly reduce the amount of oxygen required for obtaining FiO2 >0.60
b) significantly reduce the amount of energy consumption to treat a patient with HAPE
Just to give you an idea of costs
1) An E-sized tank of oxygen costs $500 USD at altitude
2) To run an oxygen concentrator will drain the entire Pb-acid battery pack equivalent to one-day of charging via solar panels.
3) Precise energy requirements for CPAP machine were not measured last season; but power is not readily available. Options are solar, solar and solar