Abstract

Sepsis is an important cause of mortality and morbidity in children. Paediatric sepsis in India has a high mortality rate of 40%, which necessitates early risk stratification and timely escalation of level of care for improving survival. Biochemical markers such as serum lactate are helpful in such cases. Lactate is frequently measured to estimate the extent of hypoxia at cellular level, and it correlates well with indices of end organ perfusion. Serum lactate level can be measured at bed side with rapid turn around time. Lactate testing is simple, inexpensive and reasonably sensitive tool for prognostication. Very few studies regarding lactate and lactate clearance have been done in paediatric population.

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