Prognosis of children with septic shock assessed by lactate and lactate clearance rate

Objective To evaluate the relationship between lactate,lactate clearance rate and prognosis of children with septic shock.Methods A total of 42 children with septic shock admitted in the PICU from Oct 2009 to Jun 2011 were enrolled in the study.All the children were given goal-directed therapy early according to the treatment routine of septic shock.The blood lactate levels before resuscitation and at 1h,2h,6 h after resuscitation were detected,the lactate clearance rates at 1 h,2 h,6 h after resuscitation were calculated.All the patients were divided into the survival group ( n =20 ) and the non-survival group ( n =22 ) by prognosis.The relationship between the early lactate level,lactate clearance rate and prognosis of the children with septic shock was evaluated.Results ( 1 ) The lactate levels before resuscitation and at 1 h,2 h,6 h after resuscitation in the survival group were significantly lower than those in the non-survival group [ (3.92 ± 2.58) mmol/L vs (6.91 ± 4.16) mmol/L,( 2.79 ± 1.89 ) mmol/L vs ( 7.93 ± 4.39 ) mmol/L,( 2.20 ±1.83) mmol/L vs (9.20 ±4.97) mmol/L,( 1.32 ±0.51 ) mmol/L vs (9.94 ±5.02) mmol/L,P ＜0.05].(2) The lactate clearance rates at 1 h,2 h,6 h after resuscitation in the survival group were significantly higher than those in the non-survival group [ (26.31 ± 20.82) ％ vs ( - 24.28 ± 53.39 ) ％,(43.46 ± 17.85 ) ％ vs (-34.31±58.98)％,(61.04±16.71)％ vs ( -45.33 ±83.51)％,P＜0.05].(3) The area under curve of the lactate and the lactate clearance rate at 6 h after resuscitation were 99.4％ and 96.7％ according to the receiver operating characteristic curve.The children had high mortality if the lactate value ＞ 2.20 mmol/L and lactate clearance rate ＜ 18.65％ at 6 h after resuscitation.Conclusion It is important to dynamicly monitor the lactate of the children with septic shock,the lactate and the lactate clearance rate at 6 h after resuscitation can be used to evaluate the prognosis. Key words: Lactate;  Lactate clearance rate;  Septic shock;  Prognosis;  Children