Announcements
Reviews in Cardiovascular Medicine (RCM) is published by IMR Press from Volume 19 Issue 1 (2018). Previous articles were published by another publisher in Open Access under a CC-BY (or CC-BY-NC-ND) licence, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with MedReviews, LLC.
Open Access
Review
Congestion in Acute Heart Failure Syndromes: Importance of Early Recognition and Treatment
Show Less
1
Laboratory of Interventional Cardiology, Division of Cardiology, European Hospital, Rome, Italy
2
Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
3
Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center, UCLA Medical Center, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
4
Division of Cardiology, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL
Rev. Cardiovasc. Med. 2006, 7(2), 69–74;
Published: 30 June 2006
Abstract
The vast majority of acute heart failure syndrome (AHFS) hospitalizations are related to clinical congestion, rather than to a low cardiac output state. Patients develop hemodynamic congestion (high left ventricular filling pressure) several days to weeks before the onset of clinical symptoms and signs. Congestion is an important predictor of both mortality and morbidity in patients with AHFS. As a result, congestion is an essential evaluative and therapeutic target in AHFS patients. It is plausible that early identification of hemodynamic congestion, before the clinical manifestations are present, could reduce the need for hospital admission and readmission.
Keywords
Acute heart failure syndromes
Pulmonary congestion
Left ventricular filling pressure
Pulmonary capillary wedge pressure
Diuretics