Continuous Central Venous Lactate Monitoring by Intravascular Microdialysis : a Comparison to Sequential Arterial Lactate Measurement During Shock.

During shock, arterial hypotension, inadequate cardiac output and microcirculatory alterations lead to tissue hypoxia, multiple organ failure and death. Arterial lactate is considered as the best marker of tissue hypoxia. A lactate decrease during the first 6 hour is strongly associated with better outcome and may be used as a target for assessing the efficiency of shock resuscitation. The EIRUS system (Maquet Critical Care AB, 17154, Solna, Sweden) is a new device allowing the continuous measurement of venous lactate through a central venous catheter. However, before being used extensively, such device needs to be evaluated concerning its accuracy. The aim of the present study is to assess the reliability of this device.