Aquapheresis Therapy: Advanced Treatment Helps Patients with Heart Failure Breathe Easier

Aquapheresis-TherapyFrom the Spring 2012 StayHealthy publication

Porter has scored another first by being the first hospital in Northwest Indiana to offer a new treatment for patients with Congestive Heart Failure (CHF). Called Aquapheresis Therapy, it is a way to safely and effectively remove excess salt and water from patients who are suffering from fluid overload due to heart failure.

Nearly 5 million Americans are currently living with CHF and approximately 550,000 new cases are diagnosed each year according to the American Heart Association. CHF occurs when the heart cannot pump enough blood and oxygen to support the body's other organs. Since the heart is not working effectively, the body tries to compensate by holding on to salt and water thereby increasing the amount of blood in the blood stream.

To help counteract this buildup, patients are often prescribed a combination of a low salt diet, fluid restrictions and diuretics. Unfortunately, these treatments don't always work effectively and the fluid continues to increase, which causes symptoms such as weakness and shortness of breath.

"Congestive heart failure is responsible for more hospitalizations than all forms of cancer combined," explained Cardiovascular Nurse Practitioner Dawn Nelson CNS, NP-C. "This is why we worked so diligently to bring the Aquapheresis Therapy to Porter." Done on an inpatient basis, an intravenous catheter connected to a blood circuit filter is placed in the patient's vein. Blood id drawn from the vein and excess water is filtered out. The filtered blood is returned to the patient. "The physician specifies the exact amount and rate of fluid that is removed. Done gradually, it won't affect the patient's blood pressure, heart rate or electrolyte balance," said Nelson. "The treatment itself takes 24 to 36 hours."

While the number of cases of CHF has been increasing over the years, death from the disease over the past fifty years have decreased on average by 12 percent per decade for women and men. "Thanks to better management of the disease and to therapies like Aquapheresis, people with CHF are living longer and with a better quality of life," Nelson commented.


Visit the Porter Health System website
Valparaiso Campus
814 LaPorte Avenue
Valparaiso, IN 46383
Phone: 219-263-4600

Symptoms of CHF

The symptoms vary among individuals depending on the particular organ systems involved and depending on the degree to which the rest of the body has "compensated" for the heart muscle weakness.

  • Fatigue
  • Swelling (edema) of the ankles and legs or abdomen
  • Shortness of breath
  • Problem sleeping horizontally
  • Increased urination
  • Nausea, abdominal pain or decreased appetite