Effects of intragastric sodium bicarbonate in infants with respiratory distress.

Open Access

1 April 1968

journal article
research article
Published by BMJ in Archives of Disease in Childhood

Vol. 43 (228) , 155-160
https://doi.org/10.1136/adc.43.228.155

Abstract

The incidence of metabolic acidosis was investigated in 225 infants with respiratory distress. In infants who initially had standard bicarbonate levels below 18 mEq/liter (less than 1/2 the total) spontaneous recovery from metabolic acidosis was rapid in those whose chest radiographs were normal or showed only localized abnormality, but was delayed in many with generalized radiological abnormality. Administration of intragastric sodium bicarbonate to a group of infants with generalized radiological abnormality speeded recovery from metabolic acidosis, but was often followed by a more severe and prolonged respiratory acidosis. Mortality was not reduced. The value of treatment with intragastric sodium bicarbonate in neonatal respiratory distress is strictly limited. It may be of some value in the small minority of cases in which metabolic acidosis persists despite treatment by means of intermittent positive pressure respiration.

Keywords

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