Assessment of a point-of-care lactate monitor in emergency admissions of adult horses to a referral hospital.

The research investigates the accuracy of a point-of-care (POC) lactate monitor as compared to a laboratory-standard device in measuring blood lactate concentrations in adult horses admitted to a hospital in emergency situations.

Research Objective

The study was aimed at determining whether the readings from the POC lactate monitors were in consistent agreement with the measurements taken by the laboratory-standard device. This is significant, as an accurate and immediate lactate level reading can impact the assessment of a horse’s disease severity, particularly in emergency situations.

Research Methodology

• This was a prospective observational research involving adult horses that required emergency evaluations.
• Blood lactate concentration measurements were taken using two different methods – whole blood and plasma – via the POC Accutrend monitor.
• The POC results were then compared with the readings from the laboratory-based blood gas analyser known as NOVA.
• The level of agreement between POC monitor and laboratory-standard device readings was the main determinant of the POC device’s reliability and accuracy.

Findings and Conclusions

• The study involved samples from 221 horses, lending a substantial amount of data for the comparison of the two lactate measurement techniques.
• The results demonstrated the closest agreement between the Accutrend POC readings when using plasma and the NOVA laboratory readings.
• However, the agreement between POC readings when using whole blood and NOVA readings was found to be less consistent, especially at higher lactate concentrations.
• The study concludes that plasma measurements on the POC monitor showed a high degree of agreement with NOVA, making it reliable for trending lactate levels.
• However, the use of the POC monitor with whole blood samples was deemed less reliable for trend monitoring, although it could still identify clinically relevant hyperlactatemia.

Overall, this study suggests that point-of-care lactate monitors can be a reliable tool in emergency situations for monitoring lactate levels in horses, especially when measurements are performed on plasma samples.