Lactate clearance as a prognosis indicator of mortality in patients with severe sepsis and septic shock

Willy Porras-García, Manuel Ige-Afuso and Antonio Ormea-Villavicencio carried out this study in order to determine the clinical utility of lactate clearance at 12 hours as an indicator of mortality in patients with severe sepsis and septic shock.

Porras-García et al. devised a prospective observational study which was performed during a 2-year period in the ICU of the national Hospital Arzobispo Loayza of Lima, with patients who had been diagnosed with severe sepsis and septic shock. Blood lactate measurements were taken from an arterial sample taken at ICU admission, 6, 12 and 24 hours after initiating therapy.

The authors concluded that lactate clearance is a prognostic indicator of mortality in severe sepsis and septic shock, and found that a lactate clearance of less than 10% at 12 hours of admission is related to high hospital mortality

This article was published by the journal Revista de la Sociedad Peruana de Medicina Interna (Rev Soc Peru Med Interna 2007; vol 20 (4)) with the original title Depuración de lactato como indicador pronóstico de mortalidad en pacientes con sepsis severa y choque séptico

Please click here to access the original article, written in Spanish:
Depuración de lactato como indicador pronóstico de mortalidad en pacientes con
sepsis severa y choque séptico