Association of Preoperative Lactate and LDH Levels with Resection Length in Acute Mesenteric Ischemia

Background and Objectives: This study examined the associations of admission lactate and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels with total small bowel resection length in patients with acute mesenteric ischemia (AMI) who underwent resection. Materials and Methods: This retrospective, single-center study included 71 patients who underwent small bowel resection for AMI. Associations were assessed using Spearman’s correlation and linear regression adjusted for albumin and AMI etiology. Heteroscedasticity-consistent HC3 standard errors were used for regression inference. Model diagnostics and sensitivity analyses were performed. Admission biomarker levels were also compared by in-hospital mortality status in an exploratory analysis. Results: The median resection length was 90 cm (range, 20–360 cm) and this correlated with lactate (ρ = 0.551, p < 0.001) and LDH (ρ = 0.317, p = 0.007). In the etiology-adjusted model, lactate (B = 12.286, HC3 95% CI: 4.449–20.123; p = 0.003) and LDH (B = 0.035, HC3 95% CI: 0.014–0.056; p = 0.002) remained associated with resection length. The apparent R2 was 0.567, and both associations remained positive after influential observations were excluded. In exploratory unadjusted comparisons, non-survivors had higher admission lactate and LDH levels than survivors. Conclusions: Admission lactate and LDH levels were associated with resection length in this selected surgical cohort. Individual-level predictive accuracy was not established, and these biomarkers cannot currently guide operative decisions.