• Marc Schaber, Veronika Leichtfried, Dietmar Fries, Maria Wille, Hannes Gatterer, Martin Faulhaber, Philipp Würtinger, and Wolfgang Schobersberger.
• Institute for Sports Medicine, Alpine Medicine and Health Tourism, University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology (UMIT), Eduard-Wallnöfer-Zentrum 1, 6060 Hall, Austria.
• Biomed Res Int. 2015 Jan 1; 2015: 593938.

IntroductionThe aim of the present study was to investigate whether a 12-hour exposure in a normobaric hypoxic chamber would induce changes in the hemostatic system and a procoagulant state in volunteers suffering from acute mountain sickness (AMS) and healthy controls.Materials And Methods37 healthy participants were passively exposed to 12.6% FiO2 (simulated altitude hypoxia of 4,500 m). AMS development was investigated by the Lake Louise Score (LLS). Prothrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time, fibrinogen, and platelet count were measured and specific methods (i.e., thromboelastometry and a thrombin generation test) were used.ResultsAMS prevalence was 62.2% (LLS cut off of 3). For the whole group, paired sample t-tests showed significant increase in the maximal concentration of generated thrombin. ROTEM measurements revealed a significant shortening of coagulation time and an increase of maximal clot firmness (InTEM test). A significant increase in maximum clot firmness could be shown (FibTEM test).ConclusionsAll significant changes in coagulation parameters after exposure remained within normal reference ranges. No differences with regard to measured parameters of the hemostatic system between AMS-positive and -negative subjects were observed. Therefore, the hypothesis of the acute activation of coagulation by hypoxia can be rejected.

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