Effects of ventriculoarterial coupling changes on renal function, echocardiographic indices and energy efficiency in patients with acute decompensated systolic heart failure under furosemide and dopamine treatment: A comparison of three therapeutic protocols

Background Ventriculoarterial coupling (VAC) status relates to tissue perfusion and its optimization may improve organ function and energy efficiency (EE) of the cardiovascular system. The effects of non-invasively calculated VAC improvement on echocardiographic parameters, renal function indices and EE improvement in patients with acute decompensated systolic heart failure were studied. Furthermore, effects of different treatment modalities on VAC, renal function and echocardiographic parameters were compared. Methods Systolic heart failure patients with ejection fraction < 50% were studied, who, at the treating physician's discretion, received 8-hour infusions of: high dose furosemide (20 mg/h), low dose furosemide (5 mg/h) or dopamine (5 μg/kg/min) combined with furosemide (5 mg/h). Echocardiographic assessments were performed at 0 and 24 h. Renal function was evaluated using serum creatinine and creatinine clearance. VAC and EE were assessed noninvasively, by echocardiography. Results Significant correlations were noted between VAC improvement and improvements in EE and serum creatinine (rho = 0.96, p < 0.001, rho = 0.32, p = 0.04 respectively). Dopamine-furosemide combination had a borderline effect on creatinine (p = 0.08) and led to significant improvements in e′, E/e′ ratio (p = 0.015 and p = 0.009 respectively) and VAC (value closer to 1). Conclusion VAC improvement correlated with EE and creatinine improvement, regardless of treatment, supporting a potential role for VAC status assessment and improvement in acute decompensated systolic heart failure. Dopamine and furosemide combination seemed to improve VAC and diastolic function but only had a borderline effect on renal function.