Review Attenuating Post-exertional Malaise in [ME/CFS] and Long-COVID: Is Blood Lactate Monitoring the Answer? 2024 Faghy et al

Jonathan Edwards said:
I have not taken the trouble to search through but do we know how lactate is being measured in these devices? Is it on optical spectrum or is blood actually sampled or what?
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It's a blood prick test.

Reliability and Accuracy of Six Hand-Held Blood Lactate Analysers
These devices interpret the electrical signal produced as a result of the reaction between lactate in the blood and the enzyme lactate oxidase on the inserted sensor. The voltage signal corresponds directly to the lactate concentration of the sample.
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The monitor I used rates well at both high and low lactate levels in that study.
 
So is this venous blood or more likely just blood from traumatised micro vessels during a pinprick?

Presumably it measures lactate in skin dermis at some peripheral site like the fingertip?

If peripheral circulation is slow would that raise the level because of greater de-oxygenation?

Would it bear any useful relation to lactate in tissues of interest like muscle - which it will not sample unless you stick the needle in pretty far?

I can see that a blood prick test might be quite a reliable way to assess major systemic lactic acidaemia but I wonder if it fraught with problems if interpreted as a measure of muscle lactate production.
 
Hutan said:
Yes, sorry, a fingertip prick test.
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I think in sports (which is where this paper seems to be coming from) they very often use the ear lobe as well (and that might even make a difference according to this study Differences between lactate concentration of samples from ear lobe and the finger tip).

The newly hyped, soon to be available, devices that are continuous lactacte measurement devices are wearables that seem to be extremely similar to those glucose arm patches so they would use some sensors, to measure lactacte in sweat or interstitial fluid, instead of blood sampling.
 
EndME said:
I think in sports (which is where this paper seems to be coming from) they very often use the ear lobe as well
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Which sports exercise the ear lobes? Is there a study that relates earlobe blood lactate with lactate in major muscles elsewhere in the body? To me it seems like measuring "Pacific Ocean temperature" temperature by dipping a thermometer in one bay. I'm not sure that it matters for customers though, since they probably just want to brag about their numbers on social media, so nonsense numbers are as good as any others.
 
Creekside said:
Which sports exercise the ear lobes? Is there a study that relates earlobe blood lactate with lactate in major muscles elsewhere in the body? To me it seems like measuring "Pacific Ocean temperature" temperature by dipping a thermometer in one bay. I'm not sure that it matters for customers though, since they probably just want to brag about their numbers on social media, so nonsense numbers are as good as any others.
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None. But afaik that's not the point at all. The point is that the ear lobe lactacte levels are supposed to be used as a reference value to set your training zones (accounting for heart rate and power output) and using the ear lobe can be very easy for that in certain training situations (for example if you're on an indoor bicycle trainer and being monitored by a doctor they can easily and repetitively use your ear lobe instead of your finger).
 
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