Abstract
The underlying diseases including the predisposing causes and clinical laboratory data of 53 inpatients with lactic acidosis (blood lactic acid>50 mg/dl and blood pH<7.35) were analyzed. The most common underlying disease accompanied by lactic acidosis was malignant neoplasm. Organ failure, cardiovascular disease and diabetes mellitus were also common. The prognosis of cases with malignant disease, organ failure, diabetes mellitus, infection and paraquat intoxication was grave. However, those cases with cardiovascular disease, surgical procedures, trauma and convulsions had a favorable prognosis. Twenty-nine of the 53 cases in this series died.
Clinical laboratory date (M ± SD) showed, blood lactic acid 162.8±90.4 mg/dl, blood pH7.141±0.141 and blood glucose 348.2±282.1 mg/dl Elevation of total bilirubin, GOT, GPT, LDH, CPK, BUN and creatinine and a decrease of total protein were observed. Those cases who die showed higher levels of blood lactic acid, and a bigger anion gap, and more severe organ failure. The above finidngs clearly indicate that most cases of lactic acidosis are assosiated with hyperglycemia and that the prognosis of lactic acidosis is grave in cases with organ failure.
