Perioperative Glucose Management: Point-of-Care Testing and Pseudohypoglycemia

Perioperative hypoglycemia has been associated with adverse outcomes. Consequently, perioperative monitoring of blood glucose using convenient point-of-care (POC) monitors is frequently used. Although venous or arterial glucose POC testing has been cleared for use in critically ill hospitalized patients, the results of capillary glucose POC testing should be interpreted with caution because capillary POC samples are usually less reliable than those obtained from arterial or venous sites. We describe a case of pseudohypoglycemia using such testing. This case highlights the importance of individualizing perioperative glucose management to venous or arterial rather than capillary sampling in certain clinical situations.