Adipose tissue lactate clearance but not blood lactate clearance is associated with clinical outcome in severe sepsis or septic shock during the post-resuscitation period

Blood lactate clearance, a surrogate of tissue hypoxia, is associated with increased mortality in septic patients. However, no study has directly measured lactate clearance at the tissue level in the post-resuscitation period of sepsis. This study aimed to examine the relative kinetics of blood and tissue lactate clearances and to investigate whether these are associated with outcome in ICU patients having severe sepsis or septic shock during the post-resuscitation phase.