Laboratory Test Reference Guide

Laboratory Information

Test Name

Lactate

Synonyms

Lactate plasma

External Price (excl. GST)

17.16

Specimen Collection

Pre Testing Requirements

.

Adult Specimen

Fluoride (grey) specimen.

Paediatric Specimen

0.3 ml

Test Information

Department

Biochemistry

Test Availability

Mon - Sun, 24hrs

Laboratory Turnaround Time

3 hrs

Method

Cobas Pro enzymatic.

Unit of measurement

mmol/L

Reference interval

0.6 - 2.0 mmol/L

Uncertainty of measurement

6%

Diagnostic Use Or Instructions

Lactic acidosis is considered to be present when lactate is elevated to more than 3 or 4 mmol/L

Type A – Tissue hypoxia

  • Hypo-perfusion  - shock, sepsis, heart failure
  • Anaerobic exercise

Type B  - Metabolic disorders

  • Liver disease (reduced clearance)
  • Drugs – metformin, propofol, anitiretroviral medication, linezolid
  • Ethanol
  • Thiamine deficiency
  • Malignancies
  • Genetic metabolic defects - glucose-6-phosphatase deficiency, pyruvate dehydrogenase deficiency; defects of gluconeogenesis; mitochondrial disease (e.g. MELAS) 

Glycolate, a metabolite of ethylene glycol,  causes a large false increase when lactate is measured on an ABL gas analyser and a smaller false increase when measured on the main chemistry analyser.

Minimum Volume

0.1 mL Fluoride plasma (Frozen)

Electronic Information

Registration Code

LAC

HL7 mapping code

$LAC