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How quickly can blast gases cause respiratory problems?

Anonymous 11 years ago updated by anonymous 6 years ago 1

Inhalation of toxic gases can lead to pneumonitis. It has been known that methane gas intoxication causes loss of consciousness or asphyxia. There is, however, a paucity of information about acute pulmonary toxicity from methane gas inhalation. A 21-year-old man was presented with respiratory distress after an accidental exposure to methane gas for one minute. He came in with a drowsy mentality and hypoxemia. Mechanical ventilation was applied immediately. The patient's symptoms and chest radiographic findings were consistent with acute pneumonitis. He recovered spontaneously and was discharged after 5 days without other specific treatment. His pulmonary function test, 4 days after methane gas exposure, revealed a restrictive ventilatory defect. In conclusion, acute pulmonary injury can occur with a restrictive ventilator defect after a short exposure to methane gas. The lung injury was spontaneously resolved without any significant sequela. http://paylesswithcoupons.com/ is offering many health deals. 


Methane is a component of natural gas, mainly used as a fuel source and chemical feedstock in industries. It is usually harmless, however, at high concentrations, it may reduce the oxygen percentage in air, causing suffocation. It is also extremely flammable and can cause an explosion when its concentration reaches 5% to 15% in air. Previous reports focused mainly on accidents involving workers in coal mines that related to asphyxia or methane gas explosions1-3. In this report, we described the first case of acute pulmonary toxicity from accidental inhalation of methane in a medical gas supply room.