Abstract
Glutamine supplementation for critically ill patients has become controversial after trials showing a negative effect on clinical outcome. However, in addition to patients with very low glutamine levels there are patients with very high levels and most likely supplementation needs to be individualised to the patients with low levels. Unfortunately no clinically acceptable bedside analysis for glutamine is available.
Highlights
Glutamine supplementation for critically ill patients has become controversial after trials showing a negative effect on clinical outcome
Each sample was divided into 3 aliquots; for analyses of plasma and whole blood glutamine by the point-of-care (POC) instrument (Bioprofile Basic, Nova Biomedical, Waltham, MA, USA) and for analysis of plasma glutamine concentration by the gold standard HPLC technique
Comparison of plasma glutamine measured on the POC and HPLC gave a good correlation (r = 0.98, p < 0.001) but Bland-Altman analyses revealed a line of identity of -222 μmol /L and lines of agreement (2xSD) of 55 and -499 μmol /L
Summary
Glutamine supplementation for critically ill patients has become controversial after trials showing a negative effect on clinical outcome. In addition to patients with very low glutamine levels there are patients with very high levels and most likely supplementation needs to be individualised to the patients with low levels. No clinically acceptable bedside analysis for glutamine is available
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