Russian specialists are ready to offer a unique technology for inhaling a mixture of helium and oxygen.
The technology of a mixture of helium and oxygen heated to high temperatures may soon be used in infectious diseases clinics to rescue patients with coronavirus infection. It has already been created on the basis of the Institute of Pulmonology and its clinical base - the Moscow City Hospital named after M. V. D. D. Pletnev and is successfully used to treat patients with respiratory failure for various diseases - exacerbation of obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD and bronchial asthma), severe pneumonia, coronary heart disease. Now there is every reason to believe that the technique will be effective for the treatment of patients with COVID-19.
According to the chief physician of the D. D. Pletnev Irina Nazarova, this development is completely domestic know-how, there is nothing like it in the world. To date, the clinic has treated more than 2000 patients. Thermogeliox was successfully used in intensive care in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome and cardiogenic pulmonary edema. Its use in combination with non-invasive ventilation of the lungs allows avoiding artificial ventilation of the lungs, and hence the associated complications. In addition, extensive experience has been accumulated in the use of Thermogeliox in obstetric practice in pregnant women with bronchopulmonary pathology and fetoplacental insufficiency.
“Our system consists of two cylinders, one of which contains oxygen and the other contains helium,” says Alexander Chuchalin, President of the Russian Respiratory Society, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences. - These two gases mix and enter the patient's lungs. An engineering group has developed so-called thermal helium, heated to high temperatures, of the order of 70 degrees C. However, helium is a very light, non-viscous gas. Therefore, for the breathing of patients, we use his mixer with oxygen necessary for the body. Inhalation of such a mixture is completely safe, and in some cases highly effective.
According to the scientific director of the Institute of Biochemical Physics. N. M. Emanuel, RAS Corresponding Member Sergei Varfolomeev, who took part in the development, such a high temperature of the inhaled substance does not harm the human body due to the special properties of helium. It has a high thermal conductivity (that is, it can quickly conduct heat), but a low heat capacity (that is, it does not store this heat). Therefore, getting into the respiratory tract, it does not cause burns, which will inevitably happen if you breathe in clean heated air.
“The peculiarity of thermal heliox is that it allows you to straighten the lungs, which in everyday life we do not use in full,” says Sergey Varfolomeev. - Inhalation of this substance allows you to turn on the entire volume of the lungs, expands microcapillaries in tissues and organs and, which is especially important now, destroys the particles that make up the basis of pathogenic bacteria and viruses. The virus will be destroyed if the temperature of the inhaled gas is raised to high temperatures.
According to Sergei Varfolomeev, work has just been completed on a mathematical model, which showed that within a few minutes at a temperature of 70 degrees, the concentration of viruses drops 15-20 times.
Until recently, there was no clinical experience of using this development on patients with acute respiratory infections, but quite recently its new modification was tested on people with severe flu. The results are more than encouraging. According to the developers, there is every reason to believe that the method will work for patients with complicated forms of COVID-19. According to Sergei Varfolomeev, it is necessary to conduct appropriate tests and, if the result is positive, begin to implement it in all clinics and medical centers where such patients are located. At the same time, the author of the development, Alexander Panin, warns: we are talking about a scientific development, which should be tested according to the existing protocols, taking into account clinical recommendations. Any experiments at home are contraindicated.
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