OBJECTIVES: To describe the use of heliox therapy in a case series of patients admitted to emergency department or/and intensive care unit of children hospital “Napoleon Franco Pareja” in Cartagena, Colombia. METHODS: We described the clinical features and results of heliox therapy in a series of patients admitted in emergency room and/or intensive care unit. For qualitative variables proportions were used and for numeric variables were analyzed with averages and measures of dispersion. We compared the differences in categorical variables using the chi-square or Fisher exact test. The aplicative Epidat 3.1 was used for data analysis RESULTS: Fifty two patients were included, of whom 59.6% were male. The mean age was 21.2 months (SD: 25.6). The two most frequent diagnoses were status asthmaticus (32.7%) and acute bronchiolitis (26.9%). Mortality was 5.8%. Success of heliox therapy was 76.9%. The route of administration was not related to the type of response. The duration of heliox therapy averaged 5.9 hours (SD 4.1) in patients who did not respond favorably and 8.0 hours (SD 5.6) in those who responded to heliox. Fifty percent off patients did not need endotracheal intubation and all responded favorably to heliox therapy CONCLUSIONS: A high success rate with heliox therapy was found in this case series. Its use is recommended as an adjunct therapy in the management of acute respiratory insufficiency.