STUDY OF THE IMPACT OF SPACEFLIGHT FACTORS ON THE VEGETATIVE REGULATION
OF BLOOD CIRCULATION, RESPIRATION, AND CONTRACTILE FUNCTION OF THE HEART IN LONG-
TERM SPACEFLIGHT (PNEVMOCARD/PNEVMOCARD PERFECTION), TWO INVESTIGATIONS
Research Area: Cardiovascular and Respiratory Systems
Expedition(s): 14- 34
Principal Investigator(s): ● Roman M. Baevsky, MD, Institute of Medical and Biological
Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
Studying and monitoring the cardiorespiratory system of crew members in microgravity is
dependent not only on the central role of this system in the adaptation responses of the entire
body, but also on the specific living and working conditions. Loads on the cardiorespiratory
system during physical loading (physical exercise, assembly work in outer space) can be
extremely high, and optimizing them may become the priority for the medical support system.
The goal of the Pnevmocard/Pnevmocard Perfection investigations is to obtain new scientific
information to deepen the understanding of the mechanisms of cardiorespiratory system
adaptation to long-term spaceflight conditions.
EARTH BENEFITS
The results obtained can be applied to
various medical fields, such as clinical and
preventative medicine, environmental
medicine, and medicine of extreme
conditions. The method enables ECG heart
rhythm, rate of capillary blood flow in the
finger, and air flow rate during breathing to
be recorded. This method enables pre-
morbid conditions to be diagnosed that
precede the development of cardiovascular
and respiratory system diseases.SPACE BENEFITS
The task of the medical monitoring system is not only to identify the occurrence of irregularities
in a timely manner, but also to predict them if possible. For space medicine and the practice of
crew member medical monitoring, it is desirable to establish patterns of cardiorespiratory
interaction in various functional states of the body, since it is known that disruptions in the
regulation of physiological functions usually precede the development of dangerous health
conditions. Further study of the cardiorespiratory system on the International Space Station
(ISS) using the more modern Pnevmocard equipment makes it possible to obtain new scientific
data on the processes of the body’s adaptation to long-term spaceflight and develop
assessment criteria to predict possible anomalies in the regulatory mechanism. It is presumed
that the Pnevmocard experiment will be a model for developing and improving the medical
monitoring system for crew members. This involves introducing a prognostic approach to
Russian cosmonaut performing the Pnevmocard space
experiment on board the ISS. Roscosmos image.