Derivation of baseline lung impedance in chronic heart failure patients: use for monitoring pulmonary congestion and predicting admissions for decompensation.

The instantaneous lung impedance (ILI) is one of the methods to assess pulmonary congestion or edema (PCE) in chronic heart failure (CHF) patients. Due to usually existing PCE in CHF patients when evaluated, baseline lung impedance (BLI) is unknown. Therefore, the relation of ILI to BLI is unknown.

Usefulness of lung impedance-guided pre-emptive therapy to prevent pulmonary edema during ST-elevation myocardial infarction and to improve long-term outcomes.

Patients sustaining an ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) frequently develop pulmonary congestion or pulmonary edema (PED). We previously showed that lung impedance (LI) threshold decrease of 12% to 14% from baseline during admission for STEMI marks the onset of the transition zone from interstitial to alveolar edema and predicts evolution to PED with 98% probability. The aim of this study was to prove that pre-emptive LI-guided treatment may prevent PED and improve clinical outcomes.

A novel radiological score to assess lung fluid content during evolving acute heart failure in the course of acute myocardial infarction.

Background: Monitoring of lung fluid content (LFC) in order to predict acute heart failure (AHF) during acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is an unmet challenge.

Aim: To evaluate in AMI patients the ability of proposed radiological score (RS), which is the sum of selected radiological signs of congestion, to reflect correctly LFC, as assessed with repeat physical examinations and lung impedance (LI) measurements.

Methods: Chest X-rays were taken at baseline, when rales were detected, whenever indicated, and at conclusion of monitoring.