Industries manufacture gases for use in various settings, including domestic, commercial, and healthcare. Medical gases differ from those used in other sectors due to their medical-grade quality. The purification they undergo ensures they are effective and safe to use. Each type serves specific purposes.
Medical air, a refined and compressed form of atmospheric air, has undergone purification to remove contaminants, particles, color, and odor. Hospitals and clinics use medical air for respiration, particularly in intensive care units and during surgery, to ensure the patient breathes comfortably. Before patient administration, medical air undergoes humidification to prevent respiratory mucosa from drying and to minimize potential complications. Beyond respiratory support, this gas is helpful in calibrating medical devices, powering surgical tools and equipment, assisting in sterilization, and more. Medical liquid nitrogen, a clear, odorless gas, is invaluable in healthcare because of its very low temperatures. This property makes it suitable for preserving blood samples, tissues, and cells by keeping them frozen. Its inert nature allows for preserving medical gas systems and biological materials without the risk of chemical reactions or contamination. Doctors also use this gas to eliminate cancerous tissues, while dermatologists employ it to remove dead skin lesions. Although generally safe, medical liquid nitrogen requires proper handling and care due to the risk of suffocation in confined spaces. Widely used in healthcare is medical oxygen, a highly pure gas that supports respiratory functions. It is particularly vital for patients experiencing respiratory insufficiencies after major traumas; it alleviates breathing difficulties and sustains life. Administration varies based on the patient's condition: hospitals use ventilators for patients in critical care, ambulances face masks for emergency victims, and nasal cannula is ideal for home settings. While vital for life support, medical staff should be aware of oxygen's high combustibility nature. Nitrous oxide serves as an anesthetic. Although more research is necessary to understand its operational mechanism, experts trust it hinders pain transmission within the nervous system. Dentists also use this gas as an analgesic, reducing dental procedure-associated discomforts. In situations where nitrous oxide may pose risks, patients receive special wristbands to alert medical staff. Additionally, nitrous oxide is known for its rapid onset and recovery, allowing patients to return to daily activities soon after treatment. A related medical gas, nitric oxide helps treat high blood pressure, especially in newborns, due to its vasodilatory properties that enhance blood flow in the lungs and heart. It also has anti-inflammatory effects that benefit patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome, characterized by lung inflammation. However, its potential toxicity requires careful monitoring during administration. Helium, a non-reactive gas, much like medical nitrogen, can reach extremely low temperatures. One of its primary medical applications is respiratory therapy, where, when combined with oxygen (heliox), the low-density mixture allows for smoother airflow, helping patients with breathing difficulties. A common condition where the combination assists with airway obstructions is in treating asthma. Liquid helium's cooling properties also enable the superconductivity of magnets, making it ideal for magnetic resonance imaging functions. As an inert, non-toxic gas, helium is generally safe for use.
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Industrial gases are crucial in multiple sectors, including space exploration and health care. In fact, recent research shows that the US medical gas market reached a valuation of $3.9 billion in 2021 and is expected to expand. Commercial suppliers provide hospitals with a diverse range of gases for various purposes.
Medical oxygen, or oxygen USP, is another common gas in healthcare facilities. This inert gas (odorless, tasteless, and colorless) is essential for inhalation and resuscitation therapies, assisting in conditions such as hypoxia, a condition characterized by insufficient oxygen at the tissue level, usually due to low blood oxygen levels. Like medical air, healthcare professionals use oxygen supplied in ventilators to deliver respiratory support to patients with breathing difficulties. Additionally, healthcare professionals use medical oxygen in incubators to grow and develop cells, tissues, or embryos in hospital laboratories. Manufacturers compress, cool, and condense air to create medical nitrogen, a gas valuable for powering surgical equipment. This nitrogen is particularly useful in cryosurgery, a treatment that uses nitrogen gas to achieve the extremely cold temperatures necessary to kill cancer cells and eliminate abnormal tissues. Moreover, liquefied nitrogen gas can go as low as -384 degrees Fahrenheit, making it indispensable for preserving biological materials such as tissues, cells, sperm, and bone marrow. Healthcare professionals also use heliox 70/30, composed of helium and oxygen, to treat patients with respiratory problems such as asthma and emphysema (progressive lung disease causing breathlessness). Helium is lighter than air components, such as oxygen and nitrogen. Mixing helium with oxygen reduces its density, lowering resistance or airflow obstruction and improving patients’ ability to inhale. Carbon dioxide (CO2) has diverse applications in health care. In addition to healthcare professionals using it as a fire suppression agent during a fire outbreak, surgeons use it for insufflation, i.e., blowing it into body cavities to improve visibility during surgery. For example, in laparoscopic surgeries (procedures allowing doctors to look inside the body with minimal incisions, CO2 is used to inflate the abdominal cavity, allowing easier surgical site access. Additionally, healthcare professionals can mix carbon dioxide with other gases to enhance respiration. Like nitrogen, CO2 can also reach low temperatures down to -104.8 degrees Fahrenheit, making it valuable in cryotherapy devices to destroy abnormal tissues and cells. Hospitals also use nitrous oxide, an odorless and colorless gas consisting of equal parts nitrogen and oxygen, for sedation during electrodiagnosis and therapy, i.e., medical procedures involving analyzing the body's electrical activity and using electric currents to diagnose and treat certain conditions. Doctors can also use nitrous oxide in medical products to help reduce patients' pain and anxiety. Gas manufacturers also supply argon, an increasingly popular gas with many applications in health care. For instance, healthcare professionals use argon in procedures such as tumor destruction or heart arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat) correction. Moreover, they use argon for inductively coupled plasma emission spectrometry, an analytical technique to determine the elemental composition of biological samples such as urine and blood, helping assess the level of toxic elements in the body. |