title: Evaluation of a portable lactate analyzer (Lactate Scout) in dogs.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Measurement of blood lactate concentration has become a common practice in canine medicine. However, the accuracy of portable lactate monitors has not been reported in dogs.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy and precision of a portable analyzer (Lactate-Scout) in measuring canine blood lactate concentration.
  
  
  METHODS
  A preliminary study was performed to assess the effects of sample storage time and temperature on plasma lactate concentration. Blood samples obtained from 6 canine patients at our hospital were divided into 8 aliquots and stored at 4 degrees C and 20 degrees C; plasma lactate was measured in duplicate with a spectrophotometric system (Konelab) at 0, 30, 60, 120, and 240 minutes after the blood collection. Values were compared with those obtained immediately after blood collection. Lactate values obtained by the portable method also were compared with those obtained by the reference spectrophotometric analyzer on blood samples collected from 48 additional canine patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was no significant effect of storage time (P = .89) or temperature (P = .51) on plasma lactate levels. The correlation between lactate values measured with the Lactate-Scout and the Konelab method was r = .98 (slope = .81, 95% confidence interval = .73-.87; intercept = .20, 95% confidence interval = .13-.31). The level of agreement between the 2 methods was generally good for mean lactate concentrations <5 mmol/L. However, at higher lactate concentrations (5 of 48 samples), the values recorded by the Lactate-Scout analyzer were lower than those measured by the Konelab method.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Lactate-Scout analyzer is reliably comparable to a reference method for measuring whole blood lactate concentration in dogs; however, caution should be used when interpreting lactate values of 5 mmol/L and higher.
authors.affiliation: University of Bristol, Department of Clinical Veterinary Science, Langford House, Langford BS40 5DU, UK. ferasin@umn.edu
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ferasin
authors.forename: Stephen J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Dodkin
authors.forename: Annarita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Amodio
authors.forename: Jane K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.forename: Kostas
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Papasouliotis
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001774:Blood Chemical Analysis / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000662:veterinary*; D004285:Dogs / Q000097:blood*; D007773:Lactates / Q000097:blood*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D007773:Lactates