Bicarbonate use in cardiac arrest.

The topic still provokes debate and multiple publications on the topic still hit the press reels. People talk of the increased rate of ROSC and the improvement in metabolic state, whilst others talk of the increase in mortality and worsening of intracellular acidosis.

A recent paper in Resuscitation looked at a huge cohort of patients receiving bicarbonate in arrest prehospitally. In this episode we take a look at the paper, review the guidelines and give our take on the current situation with regards bicarb in arrest

We hope you enjoy it and would love to hear your feedback!

Simon & Rob

References & Further Reading

Prehospital Sodium Bicarbonate Use Could Worsen Long Term Survival with Favorable Neurological Recovery among Patients with Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest. Kawano T, et al. Resuscitation. 2017

Use of Sodium Bicarbonate in Cardiac Arrest: Current Guidelines and Literature. Velissaris D, et al. J Clin Med Res. 2016

Effect of Sodium Bicarbonate on Advanced Cardiac Life Support. Jungyoup Lee. Circulation 2014

Advanced Life Support; Bicarbonate guidance

Bicarbonate in arrest

The Resus Room