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New Findings: What is the topic of this review?Lactate is considered an important substrate for mitochondria in the muscles, heart and brain during exercise and is the main gluconeogenetic precursor in the liver and kidneys. In this light, we review the (patho)physiology of lactate metabolism in sepsis and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19).What advances does it highlight?Elevated blood lactate is strongly associated with mortality in septic patients. Lactate seems unrelated to tissue hypoxia but is likely to reflect mitochondrial dysfunction and high adrenergic stimulation. Patients with severe COVID‐19 exhibit near‐normal blood lactate, indicating preserved mitochondrial function, despite a systemic hyperinflammatory state similar to sepsis. In critically ill patients, elevated plasma lactate is often interpreted as a sign of organ hypoperfusion and/or tissue hypoxia. This view on lactate is likely to have been influenced by the pioneering exercise physiologists around 1920. August Krogh identified an oxygen deficit at the onset of exercise that was later related to an oxygen 'debt' and lactate accumulation by A. V. Hill. Lactate is considered to be the main gluconeogenetic precursor in the liver and kidneys during submaximal exercise, but hepatic elimination is attenuated by splanchnic vasoconstriction during high‐intensity exercise, causing an exponential increase in blood lactate. With the development of stable isotope tracers, lactate has become established as an important energy source for muscle, brain and heart tissue, where it is used for mitochondrial respiration. Plasma lactate > 4 mM is strongly associated with mortality in septic shock, with no direct link between lactate release and tissue hypoxia. Herein, we provide evidence for mitochondrial dysfunction and adrenergic stimulation as explanations for the sepsis‐induced hyperlactataemia. Despite profound hypoxaemia and intense work of breathing, patients with severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) rarely exhibit hyperlactataemia (> 2.5 mM), while presenting a systemic hyperinflammatory state much like sepsis. However, lactate dehydrogenase, which controls the formation of lactate, is markedly elevated in plasma and strongly associated with mortality in severe COVID‐19. We briefly review the potential mechanisms of the lactate dehydrogenase elevation in COVID‐19 and its relationship to lactate metabolism based on mechanisms established in contracting skeletal muscle and the acute respiratory distress syndrome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New Findings: What is the topic of this review?The use of proning for improving pulmonary gas exchange in critically ill patients.What advances does it highlight?Proning places the lung in its 'natural' posture, and thus optimises the ventilation‐perfusion distribution, which enables lung protective ventilation and the alleviation of potentially life‐threatening hypoxaemia in COVID‐19 and other types of critical illness with respiratory failure. The survival benefit of proning patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is well established and has recently been found to improve pulmonary gas exchange in patients with COVID‐19‐associated ARDS (CARDS). This review outlines the physiological implications of transitioning from supine to prone on alveolar ventilation‐perfusion (V̇A--Q̇${\dot V_{\rm{A}}}\hbox{--}\dot Q$) relationships during spontaneous breathing and during general anaesthesia in the healthy state, as well as during invasive mechanical ventilation in patients with ARDS and CARDS. Spontaneously breathing, awake healthy individuals maintain a small vertical (ventral‐to‐dorsal) V̇A/Q̇${\dot V_{\rm{A}}}/\dot Q$ ratio gradient in the supine position, which is largely neutralised in the prone position, mainly through redistribution of perfusion. In anaesthetised and mechanically ventilated healthy individuals, a vertical V̇A/Q̇${\dot V_{\rm{A}}}/\dot Q$ ratio gradient is present in both postures, but with better V̇A--Q̇${\dot V_{\rm{A}}}\hbox{--}\dot Q$ matching in the prone position. In ARDS and CARDS, the vertical V̇A/Q̇${\dot V_{\rm{A}}}/\dot Q$ ratio gradient in the supine position becomes larger, with intrapulmonary shunting in gravitationally dependent lung regions due to compression atelectasis of the dorsal lung. This is counteracted by proning, mainly through a more homogeneous distribution of ventilation combined with a largely unaffected high perfusion dorsally, and a consequent substantial improvement in arterial oxygenation. The data regarding proning as a therapy in patients with CARDS is still limited and whether the associated improvement in arterial oxygenation translates to a survival benefit remains unknown. Proning is nonetheless an attractive and lung protective manoeuvre with the potential benefit of improving life‐threatening hypoxaemia in patients with ARDS and CARDS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]