MEDICAL EMERGENCIES IN COMMERCIAL AIR TRAVEL

1. INTRODUCTION TO MEDICAL
EMERGENCIES IN AIR
TRAVEL
Fares Gormallah Alghamdi
Amjad Yahya Alzahrani
Mohammed Saeed
Alghamdi

2. OBJECTIVES :
 Introduction to medical emergence in commercial air travel.
Flight physiology and pathophysiology.
Most common emergencies in flight
Most common causes of death in flight
Summary

3. INTRODUCTION :
oOn May 23, 1995, when a female passenger on British
Airways developed acute respiratory distress with cyanosis.
o Two British physicians on board diagnosed a tension
pneumothorax
oThey used a scalpel, a fork and knife, a wire coat hanger, a
urinary catheter, Courvoisier brandy, and a bottle of Evian
water
oTo successfully perform a chest tube thoracostomy

4. CONT,
•This lifesaving intervention received international attention
•travelers around the world asked what resources would be available
to them if they were in the same situation
•This was the trigger for medical emergence attention in commercial
air travel

5. PHYSIOLOGY
AND
PATHOPHYSI
OLOGY
- hypobaric environment
- decrease oxygenation
- decrease humidification
- gases expand
"
َّ‫ع‬َّ‫ص‬َ‫ي‬ ‫ا‬َ‫م‬َّ‫ن‬َ‫أ‬َ‫ك‬ ‫ا‬ً‫ج‬ َ‫ر‬َ‫ح‬ ‫ا‬ً‫ق‬ِّ‫ي‬َ‫ض‬ ُ‫ه‬ َ‫ر‬ْ‫د‬َ‫ص‬ ْ‫ل‬َ‫ع‬ْ‫ج‬َ‫ي‬
ِِّ‫ا‬َ‫م‬ََّّ‫لس‬ ِِّ ُ‫د‬
"
‫لألنعام‬
(
125
)

6. MOST COMMON EMERGENCIES IN
FLIGHT

7. MOST COMMON CAUSES OF DEATH
IN FLIGHT

8. SUMMARY
 Introduction to medical emergence in commercial air travel.
Flight physiology and pathophysiology.
Most common emergencies in flight
Most common causes of death in flight
Summary

9. REFERENCES :
‫آية‬ ‫لألنعام‬ ‫َّورة‬ ‫لسكريم‬ ‫لسقرآن‬
(
125
)
- MEDICAL EMERGENCIES IN COMMERCIAL AIR TRAVEL Andy Jagoda,
MD, FACEP, and Michael Pietrzak, MD, FACEP