{"id":3374,"date":"2016-07-11T13:22:21","date_gmt":"2016-07-11T17:22:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/?p=3374"},"modified":"2016-07-11T13:22:21","modified_gmt":"2016-07-11T17:22:21","slug":"mysterious-eyesight-syndrome-could-limit-missions-to-mars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/?p=3374","title":{"rendered":"MYSTERIOUS EYESIGHT SYNDROME COULD LIMIT MISSIONS TO MARS"},"content":{"rendered":"
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From today’s Gazette, apparently originally from the Washington Post.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

This is scary news. Eyesight is not something to risk,\u00a0 however lofty the goal.<\/p>\n

NASA Astronaut John Phillips began experiencing eye problems during ISS Expedition 11 in 2005.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

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In 2005, astronaut John Phillips took a break from his work on the International Space Station and looked out the window at Earth. He was about halfway through a mission that had begun in April and would end in October. When he gazed down at the planet, the Earth was blurry. He couldn\u2019t focus on it clearly. That was strange \u2014 he\u2019d always had 20\/20 vision. He wondered: was his eyesight getting worse? \u201cI\u2019m not sure if I reported that to the ground,\u201d he said. \u201cI think I didn\u2019t. I thought it would be something that would just go away, and fix itself when I got to Earth.\u201d It didn\u2019t go away. During Phillips\u2019 post-flight physical, NASA found that his vision had gone from 20\/20 to 20\/100 in six months. Phillips got MRIs, retinal scans, neurological tests, and a lumbar puncture. The tests showed that not only had his vision changed, but his eyes had changed as well. The back of his eye had got flatter, pushing his retina forward. He had choroidal folds, which are like stretch marks on the back of the eye. His optic nerve was inflamed. Phillips became the first widely recognized case of a mysterious syndrome that affects 80 per cent of astronauts on long duration missions in space.<\/p>\n

THE SYNDROME<\/p>\n

Visual Impairment Intracranial Pressure syndrome (VIIP) is named for the leading theory to explain it. On Earth, gravity pulls bodily fluids down toward the feet. That doesn\u2019t happen in space, and it\u2019s thought that extra fluid in the skull increases pressure on the brain and the back of the eye. At first, NASA thought that Phillips was an isolated case. But then researchers found evidence of VIIP in other astronauts. VIIP has now been recognized as a widespread problem, and there has been a struggle not only to understand its cause, but to study it at all. The theory that fluid builds up in the skull during space flight hasn\u2019t actually been tested. The only proven methods of measuring intracranial pressure are invasive: a lumbar puncture or drilling a hole into the skull. \u201cThere\u2019s the risk for infection and just doing the procedure, quite frankly, in space is difficult,\u201d said J.D. Polk, a senior flight surgeon at NASA. \u201cHaving to anchor somebody and do a spinal tap in space is not something we would relish.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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RADICAL APPROACH<\/p>\n

Michael Barratt, the former head of NASA\u2019s Human Research program and space medicine specialist, is arguing for a radical approach to the problem. Barratt is also an astronaut. While he was on a six-month mission on the space station in 2009, he noticed his vision getting worse. He and a crewmate, Bob Thirsk, were both medically trained, and they decided to do something about it. \u201cWe\u2019re thinking to ourselves, are we not physicians?\u201d Barratt said. \u201cSo we did ophthalmoscopic exams on one another.\u201d They both found hints of a swollen optic nerve. After NASA sent up more imaging equipment, they discovered the classic VIIP syndrome in one another: the flattening of the eye shape and optic disc edema. Barratt thinks solving the puzzle of VIIP is going to take testing intracranial pressure in space, even if that means an invasive procedure. One option is an intracranial probe that would be surgically implanted months before flight and allow pressure to be measured at different points during space flight. \u201cThis is one of those times I think aggressive science is extremely warranted,\u201d Barratt said.<\/p>\n

MARS BECKONS<\/p>\n

Before a human trip to Mars, which NASA says it wants to achieve by the 2030s, researchers agree that VIIP needs to be understood much better. Mars is a six- to nine-month journey away. VIIP could be the first sign of greater dangers to the human body from microgravity. Richard Williams, the chief health and medical officer at NASA, agrees that what we don\u2019t know about VIIP still poses the biggest threat. Ironically, one of the only ways to get more knowledge is to spend more time in microgravity. \u201cThe longer we stay in space, the more we\u2019re going to learn,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n