Heart failure (HF) and fluid overload are the two commonest causes of hospitalization, they become more prevalent in our aging population. Approximately 20-25% if all patients admitted with acute HF have had readmission within 30 days. In 12-year time, the heart failure hospitalization has been increased from 15,989 in 2007 to 21,015 in 2019 (30% rise) according to Hospital Authority statistics. It is well recognized that inadequate decongestion is a deterministic risk factor of HF rehospitalization. Accurate assessment and monitoring of volume status are of utmost importance in managing patients with heart failure, no matter in-patient stays or in out-patient day care services. Physical examination including detection of lower limb swelling, presence of chest crepitation and body weight (BW) increment are insensitive surrogate measures of fluid retention. Starting from October 2022, Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine & Therapeutics has launched the brand-new Ambulatory Heart Failure Clinic with the aim of taking care post-discharge heart failure patients. The post-discharge heart failure clinic is highly recommended by the latest guidelines from European Society of Cardiology (ESC, class Ic evidence) and American College of Cardiology / American Heart Association (ACC/AHA, class IIa evidence). The main focus of our clinic is to titrate guideline directed medical therapies (GDMT) gradually so as to minimalize subsequent HF hospitalization, improve functional status and relieve congestion symptoms. In view of partially decongested state, fluid assessment is undoubtedly a challenging task in day ward setting. Body weight measurement, physical examination and NT-ProBNP could provide guidance in diuretic management but their data were known to be conflicting and difficult to interpret in patients with chronic renal failure. As a result, there is an unmet need of having an accurate, timely and effective tool in fluid status assessment. In this presentation, our unit will demonstrate the non-invasive, fast and reliable measure of lung fluid content by a state-of-art device and see how it correlate with clinical outcomes of our HF patients.
