Inflight Medical Issues: Health Risks and Performance Drop
1 min read
In this image, ultrasound procedures help provide for medical diagnoses on the International Space Station. The medical kit on the ISS is basic, and all astronauts receive basic medical training prior to blasting into orbit: life-saving skills, how to stitch a wound, how to give an injection, and even how to pull a tooth. But faced with a far more serious medical emergency - what would they do? The AMO project is investigating development of a Medical Decision Support System to augment crew members' medical capabilities when they are out of direct contact with Earth.
NASA
Regardless of mission length or objectives, all human spaceflight requires some degree of in-mission medical support. The transition from a gravitational environment to microgravity, coupled with living in a closed-loop environment, can result in variable physiological effects and health risks. For example, anticipated physiological impacts of the microgravity environment include fluid redistribution and subsequent head congestion, particularly during the space adaptation phase. To date, minimal long-term health impacts have been characterized from spaceflight exposure. The ability to predict an integrated long-term health consequence is limited due to limited experience flying long-duration crew members.
In the International Space Station's Columbus laboratory, NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, Expedition 36 flight engineer, performs an ultrasound on European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano, flight engineer, for the Spinal Ultrasound investigation.
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