Altitude and the nervous system

Traditionally, altitude research has been conducted by those who profess themselves to be physiologists, pulmonologists, cardiologists, and other general physicians. There are no eminent neurologists among altitude medicine researchers. This is likely a reflection of the comparatively recent establishment of the specialty of neurology. Nevertheless, the dependence of the brain on oxygen and hypoxia at high altitudes should long ago have attracted the attention of neurologists avowedly concerned with the function of the nervous system.