Change in Relationship of Blood Volume to Weight in Congestive Heart Failure

Blood volume has been estimated in a small group of nonedematous hospitalized patients and in (arldiac patients in severe congestive failure by both Cr5'-labeled red cells and iodinated (P'31) human serum albumin. In the analysis of the data attention is directed to a fallacy inherent in the usual ratio method of relating blood volume to weight. An alternative method of analysis is proposed that not only yields greater accuracy, but makes the analysis more sensitive. The authors present their interpretation of the effects of tissue wasting and accumulation of edema fluid on the changes in the relationship between blood volume and weight in congestive heart failure. Analyzing other data from the literature by this method the authors have demonstrated a relation-ship between the amount of edema fluid and the increase in blood volume in congestive failure. NE of the chief problems of evaluating the increases of the blood volume in congestive heart failure has been the choice of a suitable method for comparison of patients with failure and control patients. ' In studies with human subjects it has not been possibl