• Simone Vanni, Filippo Socci, Giuseppe Pepe, Peiman Nazerian, Gabriele Viviani, Michele Baioni, Alberto Conti, and Stefano Grifoni.
• Emergency Department, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Careggi, Florence, Italy. simonevanni@alice.it
• Acad Emerg Med. 2011 Aug 1; 18 (8): 830-5.

ObjectivesThe objective was to investigate the prognostic value of plasma lactate in patients with acute pulmonary embolism (PE).MethodsThis was a retrospective study at the emergency department (ED) of a third-level teaching hospital. The authors considered consecutive patients with a diagnosis of PE established by lung scan or spiral computed tomography (CT) and confirmed by pulmonary angiography if necessary. Only patients for whom plasma lactate levels had been tested within 6 hours from presentation to the ED were included. Primary outcome was in-hospital death due to any cause; secondary outcome was mortality related to PE.ResultsFrom September 1997 to June 2006, a total of 384 patients were diagnosed with PE in the ED. Of these patients, 287 had registered plasma lactate levels and were included in this analysis. Included patients had a mean age of 70 (SD ± 15 years, range = 18 to 100 years), 163 (57%) were female, 26 (9%) showed systolic blood pressure lower than 100 mm Hg at presentation, and 160 (56%) had echocardiographic evidence of right ventricular dysfunction (RVD). Twenty patients died during their hospital stay (7%). Plasma lactate levels ≥ 2 mmol/L were associated with in-hospital mortality from all causes (odds ratio [OR] = 4.60, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.57 to 13.53) and with PE-related mortality (OR = 4.94, 95% CI = 1.38 to 17.63), independent of hypotension or RVD at presentation.ConclusionsHigh plasma lactate was associated with increased in-hospital mortality in this sample of patients with acute PE.© 2011 by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine.

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