Association between venous blood lactate levels and differences in quantitative capillary refill time.

We introduced ΔA b, measured using quantitative capillary refill time, as a surrogate index of lactate levels to overcome the shortcomings of capillary refill time. We showed that ΔA b is a feasible, non-invasive, and rapid assessment of patients with high lactate levels in emergency primary care settings. Future multicenter studies with a longitudinal design should be undertaken to verify our findings.