Although it may seem difficult, it is not impossible to get sick on the International Space Station. A serious example occurred in 2020, when an astronaut suffered a blood clot. (Deep venous thrombosis).
Without the proper medicines, thousands of kilometers from Earth and without the possibility of returning to it for treatment, the NASA took extraordinary measures that saved his life.
Also known as a thrombus, a clot is a solid mass that forms when blood thickens and sticks together. Its natural origin is part of the coagulation process, which helps stop bleeding after an injury.
However, blood clots can also be dangerous if they form in the wrong places, as in the deep veins of the legs or in the lungs.
They can be formed by injury or surgery, immobility for a long time, pregnancy, estrogen use, smoking, obesity, advanced age, and certain diseases, such as cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.
This is how the blood clot was diagnosed on the Space Station
The specific case of the astronaut on the International Space Station was revealed by NASA in 2020. It was not disclosed when it happened or the identity of the person.
The clot was in the jugular vein of the neck, and it was discovered during an experiment, when he had been two months into a six-month stay on the International Space Station.
Stephan Moll, a professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine at Chapel Hill, was consulted by NASA. to help develop a clot treatment plan. This became known thanks to a statement from the educational center.
The International Space Station only has a small supply of medicines on board, including the anticoagulant Enoxaparin.
The experts, with Moll in the group, had to ration stocks of the drug until NASA could launch a new cargo mission.
The person was injected with enoxaparin for 40 days: at number 43, A supply of Apixaban, an oral pill, arrived at the International Space Station, helping to complete the treatment.
In all, the doctors monitored the astronaut for more than 90 days, with the person performing ultrasounds on their own neck with the guidance of a radiology team from Earth.
Person was able to complete his six-month mission, without requiring further treatment.
What will happen on a future NASA mission to Mars if something similar happens?
Astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor, a doctor of Cuban descent, and Dr. Moll, published an investigation into the case of the clot in space.
“These new findings demonstrate that The human body still amazes us in space.” Auñón-Chancellor said. “We still haven’t learned everything about Aerospace Medicine or Space Physiology.”
“The most important question that remains is how would we deal with this on a Mars exploration class mission. How would we prepare medically? More research must be carried out to further elucidate clot formation in this environment and possible countermeasures”, stressed the expert.