Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 21, 2026
Identification and Quantification of Deranged Metabolites in Critically Ill Patients Using NMR-Based Metabolomics
Published on: November 29, 2024
Correlation between early sublingual small vessel density and late blood lactate level in critically ill surgical
Yu-Chang Yeh1, Ming-Jiuh Wang, Anne Chao
1Department of Anesthesiology, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
Background:
Surgical stress may cause excessive inflammation and lead to microcirculatory dysfunction. The hypothesis of this study was that early microcirculatory dysfunction may result in anaerobic glycolysis and lead to elevated blood lactate levels in patients admitted to surgical intensive care units.
Methods:
This prospective observational study enrolled adult patients admitted to surgical intensive care units after general surgery or thoracic surgery. We measured blood lactate levels before the operation and at 1 h and 24 h after the operation. We obtained images of sublingual microcirculation using a sidestream dark field video microscope and analyzed them employing automated analysis software.
Results:
A total of 31 patients completed the study. Perioperative total and perfused small vessel densities were lower in patients with a blood lactate level ≥3 mmol/L. We observed a significant correlation between the total small vessel density at 1 h and the blood lactate level at 24 h (r = -0.573; P = 0.001). In addition, we saw a significant correlation between the perfused small vessel density at 1 h and the blood lactate level at 24 h (r = -0.476; P = 0.008).
Conclusions:
Early total and perfused small vessel density may be used as an early predictor or therapeutic goal for critically ill surgical patients in further studies.
