The British doctors have said that doctors helped a newborn baby boy avoid serious brain injury from lack of oxygen by giving him xenon gas to breathe, a medical first.

Newborn Riley Joyce was given a 50-50 chance of permanent injury and disability when he was rushed to St. Michael's Hospital, a university hospital in Bristol, England, unable to breathe properly.

London's Daily Mail has reported that his parents, Dave and Sarah Joyce, agreed that Riley could become the first baby to inhale xenon gas, in an experimental treatment, in the hope he would make a full recovery.

The newspaper further informed that Xenon is a colorless, odorless gas that is heavy and inert and is sometimes used as a general anesthetic, although it is expensive. It occurs in the earth's atmosphere in trace amounts.

Riley's body temperature was lowered to 92.3 degrees Fahrenheit by Neonatal Neuroscience Professor Marianne Thoresen of the University of Bristol and colleague Dr. James Tooley, and then his breathing machine was connected to a xenon delivery system for three hours.

The Mail further said that Riley was kept cool for 72 hours, then slowly re-warmed. He started breathing without the machine on Day 5.

Thoresen, who pioneered the technique with Dr. John Dingley from Swansea University in Wales, said, "After seven days, Riley was alert, able to look at his mother's face, hold up his head and begin to take milk."

Clinical trials had shown that lowering a baby's body temperature by only a few degrees for 72 hours is a safe and beneficial treatment for lack of oxygen or blood supply at birth. (With Inputs from Agencies)