Might children rust? What are the risks of supplemental oxygen in acute illness

It would be hard to imagine providing care for an acutely unwell child without giving him/her supplemental oxygen. This is what we do, what advanced paediatric life support courses require; it is also what the public expects of us. Oxygen—in the developed world at least—is seen as the panacea that can do no harm, to not give it in a child’s hour of need would be considered by some to be negligent. Every television medical drama we are exposed to contains images of unwell patients, all with an oxygen mask to signify the degree of severity of their illness. So how did this potentially toxic byproduct of photosynthesis become the most commonly administered drug in hospitals? Oxygen unlocks the energy stored within the food we eat during the mitochondrial production of ATP: ‘oxidative phosphorylation’. If this process ceases, energy failure and hypoxic death usually follows. Thus, for decades our...

from Archives of Disease in Childhood current issue http://bit.ly/2CBEuLs