title: Point-of-Care, Ultraportable Echocardiography Predicts Diuretic Response in Patients Admitted with Acute Decompensated Heart Failure.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Routine management of patients with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) requires careful attentiveness to fluid status and diuretic treatment efficacy. New advances in ultrasound have made ultraportable echocardiography (UE) available to physicians for point-of-care use. The purpose of this study is to explore physiologic measures of intravascular fluid volume derived from UE and explore predictors of diuretic response in ADHF.
  
  
  METHODS
  Various echocardiography imaging measurements, particularly diameter and collapse of inferior vena cava (IVC), were collected from 77 patients admitted with a primary diagnosis of ADHF. Patients were divided into two groups based on whether or not they achieved a net negative fluid output of 3 L within 48 hours. The demographic information, serum laboratory markers, and physical characteristics of the subjects were obtained to correlate with daily ultrasound measurements. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to compare diuretic "responders" to "nonresponders."
  
  
  RESULTS
  A negative change in the IVC diameter at 48 hours was robust in prediction of diuretic response. For every 1 mm decrease in the IVC diameter at 48 hours, there was an odds ratio of 1.62 (95% CI: 1.20-2.19) for responding to diuretic therapy independent of other variables including baseline renal filtration function and blood B-type natriuretic peptide.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Assessment of central venous pressure as a proxy for passive renal congestion independently predicts initial diuretic response in ADHF. Future research is needed to further understand the individual variation in response to loop diuresis and to identify optimal treatment approaches that utilize anatomic and physiologic measures such as venous ultrasound.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Genesys Regional Medical Center/Ascension Health, Grand Blanc, MI, USA.; Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Genesys Regional Medical Center/Ascension Health, Grand Blanc, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Dena K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Krishnan
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Genesys Regional Medical Center/Ascension Health, Grand Blanc, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pawlaczyk
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine and Cardiovascular Medicine, St. John Providence Health System, Providence Park Heart Institute, Novi, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Peter A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: McCullough
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Genesys Regional Medical Center/Ascension Health, Grand Blanc, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Enright
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, Genesys Regional Medical Center/Ascension Health, Grand Blanc, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Arvind
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kunadi
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Genesys Regional Medical Center/Ascension Health, Grand Blanc, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Vanhecke
keywords: cardiac ultrasound; heart failure; ultraportable echocardiography