KIDS WHO INHALE HELIUM MAY BE RISKING THEIR LIVES, REPORT SAYS.

Byline: Medical Tribune News Service

Children who try to sound like their favorite cartoon characters by inhaling helium from balloon tanks - available for birthday parties and other social events - may be putting their lives in danger.

In the September issue of the Annals of Emergency Medicine, doctors reported the case of a 13-year-old boy who was rushed to a hospital emergency room after inhaling helium directly from a pressurized helium tank at a birthday party.

The boy arrived at the hospital unconscious after passing out and suffering a 10-minute seizure, according to the report. Emergency room physicians diagnosed the boy with a cerebral gas embolism - a temporary stroke caused by air bubbles in the bloodstream. The boy also suffered lung damage caused by rapid, uncontrolled lung expansion.

Immediately after diagnosis, the boy was transferred to a special pressurized room normally used to help underwater divers adjust from the high pressure present deep below the sea. There, the boy recovered from the near-fatal accident, according to the report.

``Normally, inhaling helium from balloons doesn't cause problems,'' said lead author Dr. Bing Pao, a physician in private practice in Atlanta.

``But inhaling anything from a pressurized tank not meant to be used on people can be potentially lethal,'' he said.

Dr. Michael Shannon, associate director of the Clinical Toxicology Program at Children's Hospital in Boston, said that a young adult in the Boston area died on the spot last year after inhaling helium from a tank.

While the new report did not suggest that the patient had inhaled helium as a form of recreational substance abuse, it serves as a reminder of the problem of substance abuse among adolescents, said Dr. Mark Widome, a professor of pediatrics at the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine in Hershey.