Helium can be one nasty gas: If it's all you're breathing, it kills, as two teenagers learned last year (before they won a not-very-coveted Darwin Award).
But mixed with oxygen, helium apparently can help people with lung disease:
Researchers at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada havediscovered that by combining helium with 40 per cent oxygen allowedpatients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) to increasetheir exercise capacity by an average of 245 per cent. COPD is adisease of the lungs caused by smoking and includes the conditions ofemphysema and chronic bronchitis.
This was the first study todemonstrate that helium-hyperoxia (40 per cent oxygen, 60 per centhelium) improves the exercise tolerance of COPD patients to a greaterextent than oxygen alone, which is currently used for treating patientswith this disorder.
The big question: What do the patients sound like when they breath a 60-percent helium solution? I'm contacting the study authors to get the answer.
Helium helps patients breathe [Press release]
