Ramachandra Reddy, MD, in April, undertook a journey to the top of the world, successfully trekking 17,598 feet to reach the base camp at Mount Everest, in Nepal. Six months of physical preparation preceded the trip, in which Dr. Reddy, an Associate Professor of Cardiovascular Surgery, Mount Sinai Heart, participated in 10-mile hikes, and altitude and aerobic exercise training. His actual journey was arduous, nonetheless, as he overcame fatigue and Mount Everest’s notoriously fluctuating temperatures that dropped well below zero degrees. Dr. Reddy says he was inspired to take the trip by a patient with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH)—high blood pressure in the pulmonary arteries, which often develops after the occurrence of a pulmonary embolism, and includes shortness of breath and an abnormally fast heart rate. After advising his patient to get into better shape, Dr. Reddy says, the patient “looked at me kind of funny and said, ‘You need to get in shape.’ The only thing that simulates what patients with CTEPH go through is high altitude,” says Dr. Reddy. “I decided to travel to the base camp in honor of them.”
Ramachandra Reddy, MD, at base camp on Mount Everest.