Furosemide and Albumin for Diuresis of Edema: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2016-10-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Critically ill patients usually require intravenous fluids to correct low blood pressure and
improve blood flow to vital organs. However, once the patient's blood pressure has improved,
these fluids can leak out into various organs, including the lung, kidneys, and skin. Excess
fluid in these tissues, called edema, has been associated with longer ICU stays and higher
mortality. Thus removing excess fluid is an important goal. The simplest way to treat edema
is to use diuretics, such as furosemide, which increase urine output.
To further improve urine output, patients are sometimes given albumin, a protein which helps
to suck fluid out from the tissues, and keep it in the blood vessel, where it can be filtered
in the kidney and removed in the urine. Although albumin is often used for this purpose,
there is little evidence to support it. A large randomized controlled trial is needed to
determine if albumin plus furosemide is truly more effective than furosemide alone in
critically ill patients with low levels of blood albumin. We will perform a pilot study to
assess the feasibility of such a trial.