Cerebrospinal fluid acid-base and lactate changes after seizures in unanesthetized man II. Alcohol withdrawal seizures.

Acid-base changes in arterial blood and lumbar cerebrospinal fluid were correlated with simultaneously determined lactate levels in patients admitted after alcohol withdrawal seizures. Arterial and cerebrospinal fluid lactate was elevated in association with a marked respiratory alkalosis in 13 patients studied 5 to 12 hours after the seizure. Similar elevations of arterial and cerebrospinal fluid lactate were found in five patients during delirium tremens without antecedent withdrawal seizure. The cerebrospinal fluid lactate determined on admission appeared to correlate best with the length and severity of the alcohol withdrawal syndrome that developed in patients after a withdrawal seizure.