BOC Medical -
Oxygen is pale blue in liquid form and is colourless, odourless and tasteless. It will vigorously support and accelerate combustion. Generally considered non-toxic at atmospheric pressure.
Advice should be sought from BOC Medical before using any materials for Oxygen service which have not been supplied for use with Oxygen and marked accordingly. Equipment to handle Liquid Oxygen must be constructed of suitable materials for the low temperature encountered.
Uses of Medical Gases - Liquid Oxygen:
Oxygen is essential for human respiration. In anaesthesia, Oxygen functions as a carrier gas for the delivery of anaesthetic agents to the tissues of the body.
In respiratory therapy, Oxygen is administered to increase the amount of Oxygen and thus decrease the amount of other gases circulating in the blood.
Anaesthetic practice is almost totally dependent on Oxygen during complicated surgery. Oxygen provides the main life-saving support in intensive care units.
Treatment after cardiac arrest usually depends on artificial ventilation with supplementary Oxygen, and its use is often essential in chronic cardiac and respiratory conditions, as well as to relieve all forms of hypoxia other than histotoxic.
Medical Gases - Liquid Oxygen is widely used:
- In virtually all modern anaesthetic techniques, as well as pre and post operative management
- To restore normal tissue Oxygen tension in a wide range of conditions, such as hypoxia due to cardiopulmonary disease, major trauma and shock
- To manage sudden cardiac and respiratory arrest, whether drug induced or traumatic
- To resuscitate the critically ill when the circulation is impaired
- In neo-natal resuscitation
