Department Blog
Zachary Dezman, MD, MS, Thomas Scalea, MD, Jon Mark Hirshon, MD, MPH, PhD, and Gordon Smith, MBChB, MPH, published the article titled “Alcohol Consumption Decreases Lactate Clearance in Acutely Injured Patients” in the September issue of the journal Injury. Based on their study involving 3910 trauma patients, the investigators concluded that having alcohol “on board” decreases lactate clearance in a dose-dependent manner. They surmised that the effect is caused by diversion of metabolites needed for the conversion of lactate to pyruvate in the alcohol metabolic pathway. This work was supported by a Resident Research Grant from the Maryland Emergency Medicine Network.