• Maria Luger, Michael Hiesmayr, Pamina Köppel, Beatrix Sima, Ines Ranz, Christian Weiss, Jürgen König, Eva Luger, Renate Kruschitz, Bernhard Ludvik, and Karin Schindler.
• From the Department of Internal Medicine III, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna (ML, PK, RK, BL, KS), Special Institute for Preventive Cardiology and Nutrition SIPCAN, Salzburg (ML), Division Cardiac Thoracic Vascular Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine, Medical University of Vienna (MH, PK, BS, IR, CW), Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Vienna (JK), and Institute of Social Medicine, Centre for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria (EL).
• Eur J Anaesthesiol. 2015 Aug 1; 32 (8): 543-8.

BackgroundStress related to surgery and critical illness depletes thiamine, essential in energy metabolism, and might result in high blood lactate concentrations and higher mortality.ObjectivesWe hypothesised that thiamine supplementation would increase blood concentration of thiamine and reduce blood lactate concentration postoperatively. Moreover, we aimed to identify the prevalence of, and risk factors for, high blood lactate concentrations.DesignThis was a double-blind, randomised controlled pilot study from February to July 2012 including 30 patients scheduled for cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass.InterventionsPatients were assigned randomly to receive thiamine (300 mg in 0.9% Normal saline solution) or placebo (0.9% Normal saline) preoperatively.Main Outcome MeasuresOne arterial blood sample was taken preoperatively and another postoperatively to measure thiamine concentration, and multiple samples were taken during surgery and ICU stay to determine lactate concentrations. Twenty-four hour urine samples were collected to measure urinary thiamine concentration. Preoperatively, we assessed extracellular mass to body cell mass ratio (ECM/BCM).ResultsThe mean (SD) age of the patients was 58 (12) years, 73% were overweight, 10% were malnourished and the prevalence of thiamine deficiency was 10%. Patients in the thiamine group had significantly higher blood thiamine concentrations 2 days postoperatively [805.2 ± 289.8 ng g(-1) haemoglobin (Hb)] than those in the placebo group (591.2 ± 100.7 ng g(-1) Hb, P < 0.01). The mean blood lactate concentration changed significantly over time, but did not differ significantly between the groups. Patients with ECM/BCM more than 1 had higher lactate concentrations on admission to ICU than those with ECM/BCM less than 1 (2.1 ± 0.7 vs. 1.7 ± 0.6, P = 0.09) and were at a significantly greater risk of having a higher lactate concentration on ICU admission [odds ratio (OR) 13.5, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.0 to 179.4, P < 0.05]. On the basis of these results, a sample size calculation for a larger study has been facilitated.ConclusionThiamine supplementation caused normalisation of blood and urine concentrations postoperatively but without a significant reduction in lactate concentration or clinical outcome. Body composition played an important role in lactate formation. Further research focusing on preoperative screening and optimal treatment of high lactate concentrations in this specific population is warranted.Trial RegistrationClinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT01524315.

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