Experimentally Induced Peripheral Venous Congestion Exacerbates Inflammation, Oxidative Stress, and Neurohormonal and Endothelial Cell Activation in Patients With Systolic Heart Failure
Fluid retention and venous congestion (VC) are clinical manifestations of advanced and acute decompensated heart failure (HF) requiring hospitalization. Although representing the effect rather than the cause, VC may play an important role in the pathophysiology of HF progression. Prior HF studies reported associations between VC severity and elevation in biomarkers of inflammation, oxidative stress and neurohormonal and endothelial cell (EC) activation.1-4 However, these studies were observational, limiting causal inference.