Transport of a patient with pneumocephalus

[Rollie Parrish <rparrish@flightweb.com>]

Here's a question for the group, especially those in the Mountain states.

I'm trying to determine a "standard of care" for the transport of a
patient with documented pneumocephalus.  The main issue is whether or
not transport in a pressurized aircraft is warranted, required,
preferrable, or just not clinically significant.

Supposedly this topic was raised at an AMTC presentation in Reno which
lead to a heated debate by the attendees. I don't want to get into a
specific scenario, but for the sake of discussion, let's just assume
that the patient must be transported 100 miles over a mountain range.
The start and ending altitude is 2000 and the max is 6,000.

So, what do you think? If you have a patient with a known
pneumocephalus, how should they be transported? If it depends on various
factors, such as volume, concomittant injuries, vital signs, level of
consciousness, please explain. If your program happens to be able to choose
between pressurized and non-pressurized aircraft, would this diagnosis
help influence the mode of transport? Or is this not a
clinically significant issue for the most part?

Thanks in advance
-- 
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Rollie Parrish
FlightWeb: For Air Medical Professionals
http://www.flightweb.com



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