Alkali therapy for neonates: where does it stand today?

The first report of the therapeutic intravenous use of sodium bicarbonate has been attributed by Kaehny and Anderson(l) to Thomas Latta who reported the practice of intravenous injections of bicarbonate (NaHCO3) and chloride into patients with cholera in 1832(2). Since the commercial availability of NaHCO3 for medical use in the late 1950s, there have been continuing efforts to clarify aspects of the "bicarbonate controversy"(l).