Point-of-care assessments and the occurrence of asymptomatic pulmonary edema in a healthy Taiwanese trekker at high altitudes

Scheduled repetitive ascent and descent for consecutive days is common in recreational mountain sports. Some studies have reported that asymptomatic pulmonary edema is a frequent phenomenon in recreational climbers, with the number of B-lines (laser-like signals from the pleural line to the bottom of the screen) on ultrasound increasing as early as 24 h and within 72 h after exposure to hypobaric hypoxic environments [1,2]. To the best of our knowledge, no studies have explored consecutive changes in B-lines and N-terminal proB-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels among participants engaging in high-altitude trekking with repeated ascending and descending.