title: Early increases in blood lactate following injury.
abstract: Current pre-hospital trauma triage systems are based mainly on physiological parameters, but in compensated shock injury severity may not be immediately obvious, as the physiological parameters remain normal for some time. Serum lactate, measured in hospital, is known to be a predictor of injury severity and outcome. The technology for easy field lactate measurement has recently become available. We found that capillary lactate is elevated in trauma patients in the early phase of the response to injury. There is a moderate correlation (R2 = 0.44) between early lactate levels and injury severity, in patients who might otherwise be difficult to triage.
authors.affiliation: Queen Mary College School of Medicine and Dentistry, Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel, London E1 1BB. t.j.coats@qmul.ac.uk
authors.forename: T J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Coats
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lockey
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Russell
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001774:Blood Chemical Analysis / Q000295:instrumentation; D004632:Emergency Medical Services; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D019344:Lactic Acid / Q000097:blood*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012774:Shock, Traumatic / Q000097:blood; D014218:Triage; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000097:blood* / Q000145:classification
chemical_list: D019344:Lactic Acid