MONDAY, Sept. 28 (HealthDay News) -- In patients with mild renal insufficiency who undergo elective coronary procedures, standard hydration plus a single-bolus intravenous administration of sodium bicarbonate may effectively reduce the risk of contrast-induced nephropathy compared to standard hydration alone, according to a study in the Oct. 1 issue of the American Journal of Cardiology.

Akira Tamura, M.D., of Oita Nakamura Hospital in Japan, and colleagues randomly assigned 144 patients to receive either standard hydration with sodium chloride plus single-bolus intravenous administration of sodium bicarbonate immediately before contrast exposure or standard hydration alone.

After three days, the researchers found the incidence of contrast-induced nephropathy was significantly lower in the standard hydration plus sodium bicarbonate group than in the standard hydration-only group (1.4 versus 12.5 percent). After seven days, they found no significant difference in the incidence of adverse clinical events (0 versus 1.4 percent).

"Sodium bicarbonate could inhibit free oxygen radical-mediated renal injury through alkalizing renal tubular fluid and scavenge peroxynitrite, generated from nitric oxide, thereby resulting in prevention of contrast-induced nephropathy," the authors write.

Abstract
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