Highest intraoperative lactate level could predict postoperative infectious complications after hepatectomy, reflecting the Pringle maneuver especially in chronic liver disease.

Background: The Pringle maneuver is used to minimize blood loss during liver transection; however, it may cause reperfusion injury, which can cause increased intraoperative lactate levels and an immune compromised state. This may further lead to infectious complications.

Methods: Here, we divided 77 patients who underwent hepatectomy between December 2007 and August 2010 into two groups: the chronic hepatitis and liver cirrhosis (CH + LC) group and normal liver (NL) group. We investigated the effect of the highest intraoperative lactate level on occurrence of infectious complications after hepatectomy by assessing the correlations of the highest intraoperative lactate level with total Pringle time, operative factors, and various parameters in serum after surgery. Parameters showing significant correlations with postoperative complications of Clavien-Dindo grade III or higher, with a wound or intra-abdominal infection, were analyzed by using interactive dot diagrams to determine cut-off values with the highest sensitivity and specificity.

Results: We noted that, to prevent postoperative infectious complications, the highest lactate level during liver resection should be maintained at <44.0 mg/dL in the NL group and <29.0 mg/dL in the CH + LC group.

Conclusions: Minimizing the highest intraoperative lactate level may be important to prevent increase in postoperative infectious complications after hepatectomy, reflecting the Pringle maneuver especially in chronic liver disease.