Pulmonary Function by Litter Position

Enrolling by invitation · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Hypothermia Due to Cold Environment, Trauma Patients

In brief

A litter is often needed to extract a person from an austere environment like the wilderness or from confined, urban spaces. A horizontal litter is generally assumed to be better for patient care, but often makes for a more difficult, if not impossible, evacuation from some settings such as confined space rescue, cave rescue, or wilderness rescue when the litter must be moved up or down a cliff with an undercut edge. A litter in a vertical orientation is easier to move in these situations, which may expedite movement towards definitive care. In some wilderness rescue circles, the mantra is that movement IS definitive care. It is already known that lying flat on the ground negatively affects pulmonary function compared to a sitting baseline.1 It is possible that a vertically oriented litter is better for a subset of patients with respiratory issues than a horizontal litter. The investigators hypothesize that pulmonary function measured by FEV1, FVC, and FEV1/FVC, is better in simulated patients in a vertically oriented litter compared to a horizontally oriented one.

Key facts

Study ID
NCT07219290
Run by
University of California, San Francisco
People needed
12
Starts
2026-02-15
Expected to finish
2026-04-01
Last updated by the study team
2026-04-08

Who can join

Age: 18 and older, up to 65. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: accepted.

You may qualify if…

You may not qualify if…

Where it is running

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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