Medical Gas Therapy

Medical gas therapy is treatment involving the administration of various gases, a practice used in medicine since the introduction of oxygen therapy; most of the gases involved, including oxygen, are themselves classified as drugs. The therapy includes the use of oxygen itself, nitric oxide to treat pulmonary disorders, and helium-oxygen mixtures known as heliox, and it requires careful consideration and close monitoring during use. In the late 1700s, a wider range of gases, referred to at the time as factitious airs, were explored for medicinal purposes.