Oxygen:

Oxygen is used when patients do not need additional oxygen due to lack of oxygen and hypoxia (insufficient oxygen in the blood).

This system includes a large storage system of liquid oxygen which is then vaporized into a concentrated oxygen source. Pressures are maintained at about 380 kPa or 55 psi. This arrangement is described as a vacuum insulated evaporator or VIE. For medical facilities with low patient capacity, oxygen is supplied by multiple standard cylinders, as opposed to vaporized liquid oxygen.

nitrogen oxides:

Nitrous oxide or laughing gas is used as a painkiller and as anesthesia for preoperative procedures.

Nitrous oxide is delivered to the hospital in standard tanks and supplied through the medical gas system at approximately 345 kPa or 50 psi.

Nitrogen:

Nitrogen is often used to boost surgical equipment during various procedures and to measure a person’s response to a simulated airplane cabin environment in a pre-flight lung test. This is known as the hypoxic challenge test. Nitrogen is also used as a cryogen to freeze and preserve blood, tissue and other biological samples, and to freeze and destroy diseased tissue in skin and cold surgery.

carbon dioxide:

Carbon dioxide is used to suspend or inflate various tissues and is used in laser surgeries. Typically, carbon dioxide is used in abdominal and thoracic surgeries, where the surgeon may need to move different organs to a specific area of the body. Carbon dioxide can be combined with oxygen or air to simulate breathing and treat various respiratory disorders. System pressure is maintained at about 345 kPa or 50 psi.

Medical Air:

This device is supplied to patient care areas by a special air compressor. Clean outside air is pressurized to about 380 kPa or 55 psi and brought inside to the patient. Medical air should never be used as oxygen and cannot be used for air conditioning controls or to power surgical instruments. Medical air is widely used in ICU, PICU, and NICU areas and with pulmonary nebulizers to reduce the risk of excess oxygen in the lungs or other body tissues (known as hyperoxia), during mechanical ventilation or surgery.

Helium/Heliox:

Helium is often used to treat minor upper airway obstructions or increased air resistance. This helps patients breathe more easily. It is also used in liquid form to help MRI machines achieve a superconducting state. This allows MRI to produce high-resolution images of the body without exposing the patient to radiation.

carbon monoxide:

This gas is only used in small amounts as an element in the lung emission test. This test helps the medical staff to determine how well the patient’s lungs are exchanging gas. In addition to these main gases, there are also a number of medical gas mixtures. These are often used for patient diagnostics such as lung function or blood gas analysis. Test gases are also used to calibrate and maintain medical devices used in the delivery of anesthetic gases. Medical gases are also used in the laboratory environment. This is where bacterial cultures may be grown in controlled aerobic or anaerobic incubation atmospheres. Biological cell culture or tissue growth can be controlled by aerobic conditions using oxygen-rich mixtures. Conversely, anaerobic conditions are created using mixtures rich in hydrogen or carbon dioxide.

Medical gas monitoring systems and fail-safes

Establishing a monitoring system is necessary to maintain a stable supply of medical gases. It should trace the flow of gas from the source, through the piping and various outlets in the hospital that use the gas. These systems should show the amount of gas remaining in different tanks. It should also show the operating status of the supply station and the gas pressure applied to each area where gas is being used.

Also, the outlet of the medical gas used by the medical staff should be designed in such a way that there is no possibility of mutual connection to different medical gases. This means connecting a hypoxic patient to a carbon dioxide source. Systems have been developed that use pin patterns that only fit into the correct female connector, as well as bright colors designed specifically for a specific type of gas.

Medical gas disposal

Medical gas is vented to the atmosphere through vacuum equipment, generally by various vacuum pump systems. Continuous vacuum pressures are maintained at about 75 kPa or 22 inHg. Waste anesthetic gas uses a vacuum pump similar to a medical vacuum system, but may be a separate line from the source. However, the line can be combined with the primary medical vacuum line. Anesthetic gas vacuum systems are maintained at about 50-65 kPa or 15-19 inches of Hg.

Parsia Gas Group has a license to install medical gas systems. If you have any questions or want to talk more about medical gas system installation, contact us.