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Rxke

Member

From: Belgium

Registered: 2003-11-03

Posts: 3,669

Re: Is there a doctor in the house?

While watching the (rather poor) series "the Cape" wherein one of the astronauts got a collapsed lung shortly after launch, I began to wonder how well astronauts would be prepared to such things.

How much experience do we atually have with emergency surgery in zero-g? (none, AFAIK)

just imagine the problems: IV-drips don't work in 0-g, arterial ruptures would be a horrible mess, even simply keeping a patient -and surgeon!- steady during operation isn't even straightforward... etc etc.

I'd like people to come up with 'serious stuff' (ie. problems) and possible solutions.

Also: problems with re-entry (g-loads) of incapacitated persons...

GCNRevenger

Member

From: Earth

Registered: 2003-10-14

Posts: 6,056

Re: Is there a doctor in the house?

There really isn't much you can do, surgery in space is unworkable (stuff floating around)... Just don't get badly injured. Nobody said this astronaut thing was safe.

---

[i]"The power of accurate observation is often called cynicism by those that do not have it." - George Bernard Shaw[/i]

[i]The glass is at 50% of capacity[/i]

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,024

Re: Is there a doctor in the house?

I think you forget that we have insulin pumps that could be converted to do the function of IV drips. Use of suction to limit blood spillage, wrapping the area with a plastic to limit tissue spread and how about a surgical table to tether the patient to.

Rxke

Member

From: Belgium

Registered: 2003-11-03

Posts: 3,669

Re: Is there a doctor in the house?

GCNRevenger is out as a doc, SpaceNut is in! 

re: the CPR. Only now I vaguely recall there have been tests done... It involved some 'wrestling-holding-grips'... In which the 'doc' latches onto the 'victim' instead of using floorstraps etc.

CPR. Check. Insulin, IV-drips, check.

Okay, fractured limbs. Setting those won't be easy. Arguably 0-g could either be a good thing (no gravity= no limping  etc.) or prove a serious problem (how do bones regrow in 0-g?)

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,024

Re: Is there a doctor in the house?

Not as well as here on Earth since 0 g leads to bone loss in space. Maybe steriod injection would help in the event it should occur.

bolbuyk

Member

From: Utrecht, Netherlands

Registered: 2004-04-07

Posts: 178

Re: Is there a doctor in the house?

What about astronauts suffering diarrhea? This must be a real problem in space, especially on long journeys, because of the loss of water. Anybody suggestions to handle this?

Rxke

Member

From: Belgium

Registered: 2003-11-03

Posts: 3,669

Re: Is there a doctor in the house?

Funny answer: lock patient in spacesuit and forbid patient to open visor.

More serious answer: I don't think it's that big a problem... medication can solve this, and in emergencies (say suited, hours away from base or pressurized rover) you already wear a diaper-like thing in your suit, and there should be a possibility to give person a shot of quick-working errr... (anti-diarehhicum(sp?) through the suit.

Commodore

Member

From: Upstate NY, USA

Registered: 2004-07-25

Posts: 1,021

Re: Is there a doctor in the house?

Artificial gee spacecraft will solve the bulk of these problems. Doing surgeries in a plastic tent or in dedicated and specially designed sick bays will prevent body fluids from shooting out into electronics.

---

"Yes, I was going to give this astronaut selection my best shot, I was determined when the NASA proctologist looked up my ass, he would see pipes so dazzling he would ask the nurse to get his sunglasses."
---Shuttle Astronaut Mike Mullane

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,024

Re: Is there a doctor in the house?

Funny answer: lock patient in spacesuit and forbid patient to open visor.

More serious answer: I don't think it's that big a problem... medication can solve this, and in emergencies (say suited, hours away from base or pressurized rover) you already wear a diaper-like thing in your suit, and there should be a possibility to give person a shot of quick-working errr... (anti-diarehhicum(sp?) through the suit.

You bring up a very interesting point Rxke.  8)

How does one treat someone in a space suit out side of the habitant module quickly and effectively once an incedent does occur that requires immediate medical attention. This almost demands a sealed rover as the number of astronauts that will venture out to explore the moon or mars surface increases beyound the initial steps to get us back. When the day comes to allowing for more permanent residence on either location.

bolbuyk

Member

From: Utrecht, Netherlands

Registered: 2004-04-07

Posts: 178

Re: Is there a doctor in the house?

The problem I'm thinking about is not the diarrhea is a disease but diarrhea as a loss of water. When using recycling of water by refining urine and water-vapor through the climate-control, this cycle is broken when water disappears through diarrhea. Suffering from diarrhea will ask extra water to consume to prevent drying out. This water also merely disappears from the recycling system. How to deal with this?

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,024

Re: Is there a doctor in the house?

NASA Considers Contracting Training Flights with Zero-G

NASA expects to decide in 2007 whether to buy parabolic aircraft services from Titusville, Fla.-based Zero Gravity Corp. (Zero-G) has flown 100 flights since it began carrying paying passengers in September 2004.

The agency retired its storied KC-135 “Vomit Comet” in 2005, but replaced it the following year with a DC-9 it acquired from the U.S. Navy and spent $6.1 million getting it ready to enter service.