The lactate clearance calculated using serum lactate level 6 h after is an important prognostic predictor after extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation: a single-center retrospective observational study.

Background: Serum lactate level can predict clinical outcomes in some critical cases. In the clinical setting, we noted that patients undergoing extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR) and with poor serum lactate improvement often do not recover from cardiopulmonary arrest. Therefore, we investigated the association between lactate clearance and in-hospital mortality in cardiac arrest patients undergoing ECPR.

Methods: Serum lactate levels were measured on admission and every hour after starting ECPR. Lactate clearance [(lactate at first measurement - lactate 6 h after)/lactate at first measurement × 100] was calculated 6 h after first serum lactate measurement. All patients who underwent ECPR were registered retrospectively using opt-out in our outpatient's segment.

Result: In this retrospective study, 64 cases were evaluated, and they were classified into two groups according to lactate clearance: high-clearance group, > 65%; low-clearance group, ≤ 65%. Surviving discharge rate of high-clearance group (12 cases, 63%) is significantly higher than that of low-clearance group (11 cases, 24%) ( p  < 0.01). Considering other confounders, lactate clearance was an independent predictor for in-hospital mortality (odds ratio, 7.10; 95% confidence interval, 1.71-29.5; p  < 0.01). Both net reclassification improvement (0.64, p  < 0.01) and integrated reclassification improvement (0.12, p  < 0.01) show that adding lactate clearance on established risk factors improved the predictability of in-hospital mortality.

Conclusion: In our study, lactate clearance calculated through arterial blood gas analysis 6 h after ECPR was one of the most important predictors of in-hospital mortality in patients treated with ECPR after cardiac arrest.