Tag: Sodium channel blockade

Sodium bicarbonate, a common chemical compound, serves as a non-specific yet vital antidote for several toxic ingestions. Its effectiveness in reversing certain life-threatening conditions, particularly those involving drug-induced cardiac issues and severe metabolic acidosis, makes understanding what is sodium bicarbonate the antidote for crucial in toxicology.

According to the National Institutes of Health, bupivacaine possesses a lower cardiovascular collapse to central nervous system (CC:CNS) toxicity ratio than lidocaine, indicating a smaller safety margin for cardiac complications. This critical distinction is a direct result of fundamental differences in how each local anesthetic interacts with and affects cardiac tissue, defining why bupivacaine is more cardiotoxic than lidocaine.