Measuring the level of haemoglobin in our blood

When there's less oxygen in the air anyway, breathing in a toxic gas sounds like the last thing you'd want to do. But that's exactly what the investigators of Xtreme Everest 2 will be doing in their mission to help critically ill patients.

Last week, members of the Xtreme Everest 2 team traveled to the English Institute of Sport at Loughborough University to learn an exciting new way to measure the level of haemoglobin in our blood.

Haemoglobin is the oxygen-carrying compound that gives blood its red colour. Measuring haemoglobin concentration is commonplace in hospitals, but this can be affected by how much water is in the blood (the plasma volume). This new technique measures the absolute amount of haemoglobin, which stays the same regardless of how much plasma is present. As hypoxia causes the body to lose water from the blood, the Xtreme Team hopes to use this technique to get an accurate measurement of what happens to our haemoglobin levels in hypoxia.

This new technique involves breathing in Carbon Monoxide, a poisonous gas. It is mixed with 100% Oxygen, which makes it safe to use (to the relief of all team members!). Pictured is Deputy Research Leader Adam Sheperdigian being tested by Dr Ronan Astin.

The English Institute of Sport is home to physiologists who work with Great Britain's elite athletes. The Xtreme team were delighted to meet Paralympian cyclist Crystal Lane Click here[.

Fresh from her successes at London 2012, Crystal was in for some off-season testing, and was very excited to hear about the work of Xtreme Everest 2.

Good luck for the next four years Crystal, we'll be cheering for you in Rio!