Skeletal muscle metabolites in patients with cardiogenic shock or severe congestive heart failure

Skeletal muscle metabolite concentrations were determined in 19 patients in either cardiogenic shock or severe left ventricular failure by obtaining a needle biopsy specimen of lateral thigh muscle. Evidence of anaerobic skeletal muscle metabolism was found in both patient groups with the greatest lactate accumulation and most severe high-energy phosphate depletion present in the patients in cardiogenic shock. The skeletal muscle lactate accumulation was most pronounced in the patients that died. Blood lactate values did not absolutely predict skeletal muscle lactate concentrations in those patients in whom skeletal muscle lactate concentrations were the highest. The patients in cardiogenic shock and severe left ventricular failure who survived demonstrated a reduction in skeletal muscle lactate levels and a restoration of high-energy phosphates over several days which correlated with clinical and hemodynamic improvement.