A Case of Subacute Infantile Mountain Sickness in a Kyrgyz Child

Abstract

Muratali Uulu, Kubatbek, Meerim Cholponbaeva, Melis Duishobaev, Aidana Toktosunova, Abdirashit Maripov, Akylbek Sydykov, and Akpay Sarybaev. A case of subacute infantile mountain sickness in a Kyrgyz child. High Alt Med Biol. 19:208-210, 2018.-Subacute infantile mountain sickness (SIMS) is a syndrome of severe pulmonary hypertension and right heart failure that develops in infants born in the lowlands and subsequently brought to live at high altitudes. Earlier postmortem studies have demonstrated significant remodeling of small pulmonary arteries as well as right ventricular hypertrophy and dilatation. In this report, we present a case of SIMS in a Kyrgyz child born to a native highlander mother evaluated by conventional echocardiography and tissue Doppler imaging. An echocardiogram showed severe pulmonary hypertension, a markedly dilated right ventricle with flattening of interventricular septum, and right ventricular dysfunction. To our knowledge, this is the first report of noninvasive imaging of pulmonary circulation and right ventricle in an infant with SIMS and confirmed the diagnosis using echocardiography.

Pulmonary Hypertension in Acute and Chronic High Altitude Maladaptation Disorders

“…Nowadays, Han mothers residing at high altitude descend to lowland regions to give birth and do not bring their children to high altitude until they have reached more than one year of age [176]. There is now evidence that not only Han Chinese infants are susceptible to this condition but that it can also develop in infants of other origin including Tibetan and Kyrgyz [176,177]. In Tibetans, this condition occurs in infants born to dwellers who migrated from an intermediate altitude to a significantly higher altitude [176].…”