Medical Needs of Snow Burial Victims

Safeback has based our product on the best available research about breathing and suffocation under the snow.

To test the product’s key concept, the University of Bergen’s Mountain Medicine Research Group conducted an independent randomized trial to explore the physiological effects of providing supplemental air to avalanche victims under the snow - led by Dr. Lars Wik.

Below is the Abstract written by Lars Wik and his colleagues, from their paper published in Resuscitation in March 2022 (retrieved from Science Direct, June 2022):

Abstract

Background

Survival from avalanche burial is dependent on time to extraction, breathing ability, air pocket oxygen content, and avoiding rebreathing of carbon dioxide (CO2). Mortality from asphyxia increases rapidly after burial. Rescue services often arrive too late. Our objective was to evaluate the physiological effects of providing personal air supply in a simulated avalanche scenario as a possible concept to delay asphyxia. We hypothesize that supplemental air toward the victim’s face into the air pocket will prolong the window of potential survival.

Methods

A prospective randomized crossover experimental field study enrolled 20 healthy subjects in Hemsedal, Norway in March 2019. Subjects underwent in randomized order two sessions (receiving 2 liters per minute of air in front of mouth/nose into the air pocket or no air) in a simulated avalanche scenario with extensive monitoring serving as their own control.

Results

A significant increase comparing Control vs Intervention was documented for minimum and maximum end-tidal CO2 (EtCO2), respiration rate, tidal volume, minute ventilation, heart rate, and invasive arterial blood pressures, but lower peripheral and cerebral oximetry. Controls compared to Intervention group subjects had a lower study completion rate (26% vs 74%), and minutes in the air pocket before interruption (13.1 ± 8.1 vs 22.4 ± 5.6 vs), respectively.

Conclusions

Participants subject to simulated avalanche burial can maintain physiologic parameters within normal levels for a significantly longer period if they receive supplemental air in front of their mouth/nose into the air pocket. This may extend the time for potential rescue and lead to increased survival.

Read the full study

Full Citation:

Wik, L., Brattebø, G., Østerås, Ø., Assmus, J., Irusta, U., Aramendi, E., Mydske, S., Skaalhegg, T., Skaiaa, S. C., & Thomassen, Ø. (2022). Physiological effects of providing supplemental air for avalanche victims. A randomized trial. Resuscitation, 172, 38–46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resuscitation. 2022.01.007