Making a virtue out of an evil: Are red blood cells from chronic mountain sickness patients eligible for transfusions?

We investigated highlanders, permanently living at an altitude of 5100 m and compared Chronic Mountain Sickness (CMS) patients with control volunteers. While we found differences in systemic parameters such as blood oxygen content, hematocrit, hemoglobin concentration, and blood viscosity, the mechanical and rheological properties of single red blood cells did not differ between the two investigated groups.