Intracranial Pressure and its Effect on Vision in Space and on Earth

Vision Impairment in Space

Fluid distribution during spaceflight and impact on brain and vision health is an emerging field of high-priority research in the NASA human space program. International Space Station astronauts have developed ocular refraction changes during prolonged spaceflight. Within this book, experts review current data related to fluid shifts during microgravity exposure and the impact of fluid shifts on astronaut health.

This work also compares current astronaut health problems with Earth-based health conditions such as elevated intracranial pressure and glaucoma. Chapters include discussion of altered fluid distribution, including intracellular and extracellular fluid shifts, eye morphology and vision disturbances, and intraocular pressure. In addition, chapters will include a discussion of advanced non-invasive technologies to investigate the abovementioned fluid volume and pressure variables.

As such, the book aims to bridge health professionals, researchers, and science professionals by a presentation of ophthalmology topics critical to future human space exploration, thus providing new perspectives to solve emerging brain and eye disease on Earth and in Space.

Contents:

• Introduction to Visual Impairment and Intracranial Pressure (Brandon R Macias, PhD and Alan R Hargens, PhD)
• Early Evidence of Vision Impairment after Long-Duration Spaceflight (Thomas H Mader, MD and C Robert Gibson, OD)
• Eye, Orbit, and Pituitary MRI: Relevance to Space Medicine (Larry A Kramer, MD)
• Fluid Shifts and Cardiovascular-Related Factors That May Contribute to the VIIP Syndrome in Astronauts (Michael B Stenger, PhD, Steven S Laurie, PhD and Stuart M C Lee, PhD)
• Intracranial Pressure Physiology and VIIP (Sara Qvarlander, PhD and Michael A Williams, MD, FAAN)
• High-Altitude Illness and Intracranial Pressure (Mark H Wilson, PhD, MBBChir, FRCS (SN), FIMC, MRCA, FRGS)
• Noninvasive Measurement of Intracranial Pressure with the Vittamed Absolute Value Meter (Eric M Bershad, MD and Richard Dunham, MD)
• NASA's Research Approach to the Visual Impairment Intracranial Pressure Risk (Christian Otto, MD)
• Advanced Imaging of the Intracranial Physiology of Spaceflight (Donna R Roberts, MD, Thomas McLaren, MD and Michael U Antonucci, MD)
• Sensory and Sensorimotor Changes with Spaceflight: Implications for Functional Performance (Rachael D Seidler, PhD, Vincent Koppelmans, PhD, Jacob Bloomberg, PhD and Ajitkumar P Mulavara, PhD)
• Lower Body Negative Pressure as a VIIP Countermeasure (Jessica M Scott, PhD and John B Charles, PhD)
• A Pressure Theory Links the VIIP Syndrome and Eye Diseases (John H K Liu, PhD)

Readership: Ophthalmologists, ophthalmology clinician-researchers, human space program researchers.
Key Features:

• This will be the first text on fluid distribution in space flight and impact on brain and vision health
• Chapters from leaders in the field on vision impairment in spaceflight
• Chapters will include discussion of novel technologies and methods being used to address vision impairment phenomena during long-duration spaceflight