Lactate metabolism in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.

petition for glucose may significantly effect overall fuel econ orny. With the exception of isolated case reports in patients with hypoglycemia who were receiving exogenous glucose infu sions (12, 13), lactate production has not been directly meas ured, to our knowledge, in a homogeneous group of cancer patients with a common solid tumor. We have measured rates of lactate production and disposal in 20 patients with metastatic colorectal cancer in an attempt to evaluate the biological sig nificance of altered lactate metabolism and its effect on overall fuel economy of the cancer-bearing host.