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Comment by TheManInThePub | Hacker News Reader

I confess my first thought was mixing oxygen in a methane environment inside the body isn't ideal.

And this isn't a joke..... for example, cyclopropane is an excellent anaesthetic gas but no longer used due to the explosion risk. I believe (?) there was a case of a patients throat catching fire on the operating table.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inhalational_anesthetic#Gases

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If my choice is between definitely dying of boring old hypoxia and maybe dying in a cool explosion I know which one I'm picking.

But to be serious it's risk management and if the patient is definitely going to die of low oxygen then the patient having a risk of dying another way is still a lower risk.

If I'm going to die from a small internal explosion, I'd rather it start at the other side of the tube. If my guts explode, I might still have a few more days to live.

Mixing oxygen and methane is OK. Just don't introduce fire.

Methane in surgery can lead to flames when surgeons use electrocautery.

I don't think the trace amounts of methane humans produce is enough to be any real danger...

some frat boys beg to differ

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fart_lighting

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intracolonic_explosion

>An intracolonic explosion or colonic gas explosion is an explosion inside the colon of a person due to ignition of explosive gases such as methane. This can happen during colonic exploration, as a result of the electrical nature of a colonoscope. The result can be acute colonic perforation, which can be fatal.

Welp.

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