Extracorporeal Ultrafiltration for Acute Heart Failure: Lost Battle or Lasting Opportunity?

The negative prognostic impact of congestion and worsening renal function in patients with decompensated heart failure (HF) has been widely recognized. As diuretics are thought to provide suboptimal results and are associated with a number of adverse effects, a number of diuretic-sparing therapeutic strategies have been explored. Extracorporeal ultrafiltration (UF) represents an intriguing option that presumably lacks many of the untoward effects of diuretic-based regimens while portending several advantages. However, conflicting data have recently emerged in relation to some of its previously proposed beneficial effects possibly due to counterbalance of the underexplored mechanisms. Herein, the existing literature on the role of UF therapy for management of acute decompensated HF is briefly reviewed with special emphasis on its impact on surrogates of efficacy and safety such as excess fluid removal and renal function. A number of topics relevant to cardiorenal syndrome such as congestion and sodium removal are also discussed.