Biosensors attached to Everest climbers to help Scientists study disease

Members of an expedition sponsored by National Geographic and The North Face are climbing the summit of Mount Everest with body sensors attached to their bodies. The said sensors will monitor the climbers day and night, collecting data to help researchers understand chronic illnesses such as heart disease. “What we’re doing is looking at an environment that’s almost perfect to highlight human frailty,” said Bryan Taylor, a Mayo Clinic physiologist. The researchers from Mayo Clinic used sensors normally used by obsessive fitness trackers and a new heart monitor to collect data 75 to 100 times per second. They also brought an ultrasound machine to study fluid buildup in the climbers’ lungs. Check out the video after the break.

Apparently a condition called high-altitude pulmonary edema has the potential to turn into a deadly altitude sickness, an affliction similar to fluid in the lungs of cardiac patients. They also collected urine samples to measure metabolic rates and even used simple video games to measure how altitude affects thinking. When data analysis begins, the researchers will look for relationships between heart rates and fluid buildup. The Mayo Clinic’s end goal will be to apply the sensors to people who have heart problems. The researchers hope that the sensors will predict heart failure in the future before it turns deadly. The team is currently monitoring the climbers  as they prepare to enter Everest’s so called “death zone”. More about this story here.

Gene Ryan Briones
Categories: Medical