Sustained improvement in functional capacity after removal of body fluid with isolated ultrafiltration in chronic cardiac insufficiency: failure of furosemide to provide the same result.

Objectives: This study was designed to investigate whether a subclinical accumulation of fluid in the lung interstitium associated with moderate congestive heart failure interferes with the patient's functional capacity, and whether furosemide treatment can promote reabsorption of the excessive fluid.

Background: In patients with moderate congestive heart failure, pulmonary overhydration may be detected by chest roentgenography even if therapy is optimized to keep the urinary output normal and to prevent weight gain and dependent edema formation. Removal of the overhydration may help define its significance.

[Changes in the physical characteristics of the lung can account for the improvement observed after ultrafiltration in patients with moderate heart failure].

Ultrafiltration improves the clinical condition of patients with moderate congestive heart failure. Ultrafiltration (1895 +/- 120 ml of plasma water, rate 600 ml/h, veno-venous bypass) was performed in 30 patients with moderate congestive heart failure in stable clinical conditions. The effects of ultrafiltration were assessed through pulmonary function and cardiopulmonary exercise tests performed before and 30 days after the procedure.

[Interrelation of plasma volume, fluid metabolism and neurohormonal activation after ultrafiltration in congestive heart failure].

Ultrafiltration improves the clinical condition of patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) through a reduction of excessive body water. We investigated the relationships among intra and extravascular fluids, hemodynamics and neurohumoral pattern following plasma water subtraction. In 55 patients with CHF (35 in NYHA class IV, Group A, and 20 in NYHA class II-III, Group B), removal of 3242 +/- 201 ml and 1741 +/- 119 ml of plasma water acutely reduced plasma volume (calculated from hematocrit changes) by -20.