S01E48 | Bicarbonate During In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest : The BIHCA Trial

In this episode of PRISM Rounds, we discuss the JAMA randomized clinical trial BIHCA, which tested whether routine sodium bicarbonate improves outcomes during adult in-hospital cardiac arrest.Granfeldt and colleagues randomized adults with in-hospital cardiac arrest who had received epinephrine to sodium bicarbonate or placebo. Sustained return of spontaneous circulation occurred in 39% with bicarbonate vs 37% with placebo, with no significant difference. Survival and favorable neurologic outcome were also not clearly improved, while alkalosis and hypernatremia were more common with bicarbonate. We also discuss the accompanying editorial by Clifton Callaway, which asks whether this high-quality trial will change practice, given how deeply bicarbonate remains embedded in code culture despite guideline recommendations against routine use. Bottom line: bicarbonate changed the blood gas, but it did not change the patient-centered trajectory. Routine sodium bicarbonate should not be reflexive during in-hospital cardiac arrest, but targeted use remains appropriate for specific indications such as hyperkalemia or toxicologic sodium-channel blockade.Source article: https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2026.10628Editorial: https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2026.10508Tagscritical care, ICU, cardiac arrest, in-hospital cardiac arrest, sodium bicarbonate, bicarbonate, BIHCA, resuscitation, ACLS, code blue, epinephrine, return of spontaneous circulation, ROSC, neurologic outcome, JAMA, clinical trials, randomized trial, evidence-based medicine, emergency medicine, hospital medicine, pulmonary critical care, PRISM Rounds, FOAMed, medical education, CriticalCare, ICU, CardiacArrest, Resuscitation,