Experience of using heliox in the treatment of viral pneumonia in COVID-19

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SummaryIntroduction. With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, finding new treatments is an extremely important issue. The effectiveness of heliox was previously demonstrated in the complex treatment of patients with various bron-chopulmonary pathologies. Therefore, this method has been recommended for the treatment of pneumonia associated with COVID-19. Purpose. To study the safety and efficacy of inhaled heliox therapy in the treatment of pneumonia in COVID-19. Materials and methods. A sing-le-center prospective study was carried out for the period from 01.12.2020 to 15.02.2021. The study included 91 pa-tients. The patients were divided into two groups: group 1 (using heliox) included 46 people, and group 2 (con-trol) — 45. Inhalations of a heated oxygen-helium mixture heliox (70% helium, 30% oxygen) were carried out using “Ingalit-B2-01” inhaler. Objective (saturation, O2 flow) and laboratory parameters (lactate dehydrogenase, C-reactive protein), as well as chest organs CT data were studied. Differences between groups were determined using the χ2 test, as well as the Mann–Whitney U-test. The p value <0.05 was considered significant. Results. In group 1, side effects developed in 5 (11.3%) patients. These patients refused to further participate in the study. Final number of patients in group 1 — 41. Among patients of group 1, there was a tendency towards a more rapid normalization of lactate dehydrogenase and C-reactive protein, as well as a decrease in oxygen dependence. In group 1, according to CT data, no progression of pneumonia was recorded. In group 2, progression was observed in 6 (13.3%) patients. The overall effectiveness of treatment among patients in group 1 was 100%, among patients in group 2 — 86.7%. The differences between the groups are statistically sig-nificant (p=0.02). Conclusion. The use of inhalations with a heated oxygen-helium mixture heliox (30% oxygen, 70% helium) has shown its effectiveness and safety in the treatment of viral pneumonia (CT1- 2) associated with COVID-19.