Contemporary Diuretic Therapies for Acute Heart Failure: Time for a Desalination-Guided Approach?

Simultaneous and fast implementation of 4 different classes of guideline-directed medical therapy markedly improve symptoms as well as prognoses in patients with chronic heart failure (HF); beneficial effects on outcomes occur within weeks.1 Loop diuretics have a class I recommendation in all ejection-fraction classes to treat signs and symptoms of congestion, but robust clinical trial evidence to guide their use is sparse, which is reflected in a class IC (expert) guideline recommendation. Despite routine use of high-dose loop diuretics, many patients are discharged with residual congestion, which is a strong predictor of poor outcomes.
Source: Journal of Cardiac Failure - Category: Cardiology Authors: Tags: JCF Ignite! Source Type: research