[Lung transplanted patient climbing a mountain higher than 4,000 metres. Comparison with healthy climbers]

To ascertain if a bilaterally lung transplanted patient can climb a mountain higher than 4,000 metres and to compare the evolution of his physiological parameters during the ascent with those of healthy mountaineers.

Heart rate, blood pressure, arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2), forced vital capacity, forced expiratory volume in one second, Tiffenau test, 25-75 mesoexpiratory flow, peak flow, severity of dyspnoea (analogic score) and symptoms and signs of acute mountain sickness (lake Louise and Serrano-Alcócer scores) were measured in a bilaterally lung transplanted patient and in 4 healthy mountaineers at sea level and at different altitudes during the ascent of Breithorn (4,164 m) from Zermatt in 3 days.

All subjects attained the summit. The transplanted patient suffered from an acute mountain sickness at 2,700 m but recovered spontaneously. No other substantial differences were found during the climb between the patient's physiological parameters and those of the healthy controls. On the summit (third day) the patient's SaO2 (90%) was higher than the figure which should be theoretically expected for this altitude among non-acclimatised subjects (81%).

Our study confirms that it is possible for a bilaterally lung transplanted patient to climb by his own effort a mountain higher than 4,000 m with no physiological changes other than those experienced by healthy mountaineers. Considering the spontaneous recovery from the acute mountain sickness and the high SaO2 on the summit of Breithorn, we conclude that lung transplantation does not necessarily prevent altitude acclimatisation.