Background:Search and rescue helicopters from the Royal Norwegian Air Force conduct ambulance and search and rescue missions in the Barents Sea. The team on-board includes an anesthesiologist and a paramedic. Operations in this area are challenging due to long distances, severe weather conditions, and arctic winter darkness.Methods:One-hundred, forty-seven ambulance and 29 search and rescue missions in the Barents Sea during 1994–1999 were studied retrospectively with special emphasis on operative conditions and medical results.Results and Discussion:Thirty-five percent of the missions were carried out in darkness. The median time from the alarm to first patient contact was 3.3 hours and the median duration of the missions was 7.3 hours. Forty-eight percent of the missions involved ships of foreign origin. Half the patients had acute illnesses, dominated by gastrointestinal and heart diseases. Most of the injuries resulted from industrial accidents with open and closed fractures, amputations, and soft tissue damage. Ninety percent of the patients were hospitalized; 7.5% probably would not have survived without early medical treatment and rapid transportation to a hospital.Conclusion:Using a heavy search and rescue helicopter in the Barents Sea was the right decision in terms of medical gain and operative risk.

Introduction: A case is presented in which a 43-year-old man suffering from a severe asthma attack, had ventilatory arrest during a hoisting procedure. Based on this experience, the influence of three hoisting techniques on lung function was tested.Methods: The ventilatory capacity of 12 healthy volunteers was tested during three commonly used hoisting techniques: 1) single sling; 2) double sling; or 3) strapped to a stretcher.Results: The vital capacity (VC) and the one-second, forced expiratory volume (FEV1) were reduced significantly during all hoisting techniques compared to the standing position. The reduction was significantly more pronounced on a stretcher than in either sling position. There were no differences in the FEV1 to VC ratio between the positions.Conclusion: The small reduction in ventilatory capacity during hoisting procedures is tolerated easily by healthy individuals, but should be taken into account when planning such procedures on patients with severe pulmonary disease.