A WONDER GAS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 135, 9 June 1945, Page 10

A WONDER GAS

RESPIRATORY CASES

USEfBY AMBULANCE MEN

O.C. ; SYDNEY, May 17. Sydney ambulance stations are using a "wonder gas," called carbogen, for respiratory cases. The gas was used first 25 years ago, but only now do experts consider they have perfected a method for administering it- to patients. ■■ '. Originally the gas was placed in a rubber envelope from which the patient inhaled. 7As there was no ex-7 halation valve in the equipment the patient was in danger from his own carbon monoxide. In the new equipment, a mask is fitted over the patient's mouth and the gas fed from small cylinders. The set contains 6.6 cubic feet of carbogen, which is sufficient for 20 minutes' continual use. Carbogen has several advantages over the old resuscitation methods. The danger to a patient with a broken bone, who is 7 being treated ;by a manual method to induce respiration is eliminated by the use of the carbogen mask.

The only exertion applied to the patient is a slight pressure on the abdomen. Carbogen also induces easier and more natural''breathing. The gas is a mixture of 95 per cent, oxygen and 5 per cent.carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide stimulates the heart and the oxygen restores essential properties to the bloodstream. Many tests have proved that where it is possible to save life carbogen will do it. Of 32 cases treated with the gas by one ambulance station, 28 were saved. Of the unsuccessful cases, one patient had a broken neck, another heart failure, and the remaining two had been under water for two hours and a half.