Medical assistance during commercial airline flights: analysis of 11 yearsexperience of the Paris emergency medical service (SAMU) between 1989 and 1999

Emergencies arising during commercial airline flights may have serious cons equences. We report the experience of the Paris Emergency Medical Service ( SAMU) in providing in-flight assistance to Air France between 1989 and 1999 . During this period medical advice was sought 380 times during the carriag e of about 350 million passengers. Analysis of the patient files suggests t hat serious emergencies were rare and that cardiopulmonary resuscitation wa s required only exceptionally. However the relative frequency of cardiac an d neurological emergencies in our analysis supports the necessity of carryi ng adequate medical equipment and of having direct access to expert medical advice. The results suggest the requirement for a rigorous prospective epi demilogical study of in-flight emergencies to evaluate the effectiveness of current practice and possible modifications of equipment and protocols for patient management. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights rese rved.