Author(s)

Manal Alotaibi^1*, Farhan Ali¹, Sharon Leung², Rebecca Kent²

¹University of Maryland Medical Center, Baltimore, MD, USA.
²Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY, USA.

Metformin is known to be an effective treatment for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Metformin induced lactic acidosis (MALA) is a serious illness which should identify and treat urgently. In this review article, we will present our own data and review the literature to highlight the importance of recognizing MALA; causes, presentations and the proper treatment, even though there are few published studies discussing MALA treatment modalities. The two cases that we presented here were patients admitted to the ICU and undergoing hemodynamic instability, which improved after removal of Metformin and clearance of associated lactic acidosis with SLED and CVVH. A case could be made for SLED and CVVH as modalities of choice for patients with MALA and hemodynamic instability, but further research is needed in this direction.

MALA (Metformin Induced Lactic Acidosis), AKI (Acute Kidney Injury), CRRT (Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy)

Alotaibi, M. , Ali, F. , Leung, S. and Kent, R. (2020) Metformin Induced Lactic Acidosis What Is the Effective Treatment?. Open Journal of Nephrology, 10, 11-17. doi: 10.4236/ojneph.2020.101002.