A new method for rapid measurement of lactate in fetal and neonatal blood

A prospective trial to determine the accuracy and precision of the Boehringer Mannheim Accusport handheld lactate meter in measuring plasma lactate levels in umbilical cord blood and neonatal blood microsamples was performed in the labour ward and the neonatal intensive care unit of the NepeanHospital. Specimens were collected from the umbilical artery of 160 consecutive deliveries covering gestations from 26 to 42 weeks, and from 110 umbilical artery catheters covering a range of gestations from 26 to 41 weeks. Serum was also obtained from an exchange transfusion for coefficient of variation analysis. Blood was simultaneously tested for lactic acid concentration on the Boehringer Mannheim (BM) Accusport held lactate meter and the Radiometer ABL 625 blood-gas machine. Clinical data from the mother and baby were recorded together with the full blood-gas analysis for comparison with the lactate measures. Coefficients of variation for the BM Accusport lactate meter were established by a further 120 samples of plasma lactate at 6 concentrations from 1 to 20 mmol/L. The stability of measurements with the BM lactate meter over a wide range of temperatures was ascertained by repeated sampling of known concentrations of plasma lactate from 0.5 degrees C to 37 degrees C. The BM Accusport lactate meter was found to be accurate from 1 mmol/L to 20 mmol/L with a Passing Bablok regression line y = 0.004 + 0.915 x (95% CI of slope of 0.889 to 0.946 and intercept -0.138 to 0.094) for whole blood, and y = 0.200 + 1.000 x (95% CI of slope 0.989 to 1.018 and intercept 0.080 to 0.222) for plasma. Between run coefficient of variation (CV) was calculated to be 1.23% to 5.53% over the clinically significant range (2.2-19.3 mmol/L). The BM lactate meter was accurate from 5 to 37 degrees C. At 0.5 degrees C the BM lactate meter significantly underestimated the plasma lactate concentration. There was no significant effect of haematocrit (41.5 to 62%), gestation, or operator on the accuracy of the BM lactate meter. The Accusport handheld lactate meter is an accurate, commercially available, method of measuring plasma lactate levels in only 60 seconds at the point-of-care. It requires only 15 microL of blood and is significantly cheaper than other assay methods. The BM lactate meter is well suited to assess lactic acidaemia of fetal scalp and neonatal blood samples to help quantify hypoxic stress in the perinatal period.