For heart failure patients suffering from fluid overload, time is of the essence. Excess fluid builds up in various locations in a patient’s body and eventually, can lead to a reduction in the amount of oxygen entering the blood causing shortness of breath and discomfort. To enhance treatment of patients with fluid overload, Tift Regional Medical Center now offers advanced Aquapheresis Therapy, using the Aquadex FlexFlow system – helping patients breathe easier.

Fluid overload refers to a condition in which excess salt and water accumulates throughout a patient's body. In fact, this excess fluid is what puts the "congestive" in congestive heart failure (CHF) and is the cause of the most obvious and common symptoms seen. An inefficient heart can lead to a buildup of excess fluid which accumulates in the lungs, liver and extremities, causing shortness of breath, decreased function of vital organs and swelling of the extremities.

CHF is a condition that affects approximately five million Americans and is responsible for one million annual hospitalizations. This surpasses the number of hospitalizations due to all forms of cancer and heart attacks combined. More than 500,000 new cases of heart failure are diagnosed each year. The estimated economic burden of heart failure care is in excess of $28 billion in the United States. Due to prolonged hospitalizations and high readmission rates, many hospitals often lose more than $1,000 for each heart failure admission.

“With the implementation of this new treatment, we are able to reduce the time it takes to treat heart failure patients” said Dr. William Guest, chief medical officer of ICU at TRMC. “The faster we’re able to get the patients breathing easier, the better their outcomes.”

“This therapy is just another means of treating heart failure” said Dr. Guest. “With it you don’t see the drops in blood pressure that you see with some forms of treatment.” The use of Aquadex FlexFlow can help Tift Regional patients with fluid overload breathe easier and decrease length of stay.

Aquapheresis does not replace traditional treatments for CHF, but is an additional option for patients who are intolerant to usual treatments.

TRMC’s medical staff, nursing staff, and pharmacists went through training and development of protocols to make this happen. Tift Regional is the only hospital utilizing this therapy in South Georgia.