Inhalation of noble and other gases after cardiac arrest (CA) might improve neurological and cardiac outcomes. This article discusses up-to-date information on this novel therapeutic intervention.

CENTRAL, MEDLINE, online published abstracts from conference proceedings, clinical trial registry clinicaltrials.gov, and reference lists of relevant papers were systematically searched from January 1960 till March 2019.

Preclinical and clinical studies, irrespective of their types or described outcomes, were included.

Abstract screening, study selection, and data extraction were performed by two independent authors. Due to the paucity of human trials, risk of bias assessment was not performed

After screening 281 interventional studies, we included an overall of 27. Only, xenon, helium, hydrogen, and nitric oxide have been or are being studied on humans. Xenon, nitric oxide, and hydrogen show both neuroprotective and cardiotonic features, while argon and hydrogen sulfide seem neuroprotective, but not cardiotonic. Most gases have elicited neurohistological protection in preclinical studies; however, only hydrogen and hydrogen sulfide appeared to preserve CA1 sector of hippocampus, the most vulnerable area in the brain for hypoxia.

Inhalation of certain gases after CPR appears promising in mitigating neurological and cardiac damage and may become the next successful neuroprotective and cardiotonic interventions.