162501 20251017144610.0 doi 10.3390/app15158157 sideral 145055 ART-2025-145055 eng Esterellas-Sánchez, Laura Karla How Does Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction Affect the Multimodal Assessment of Congestion in Patients with Acute Heart Failure? Results from a Prospective Study 2025 Access copy available to the general public Unrestricted The assessment of systemic congestion in acute heart failure (AHF) remains clinically challenging, particularly across different left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) phenotypes. This study aimed to evaluate whether differences exist in the degree of congestion, assessed through a multimodal approach including physical examination, biomarkers (NT-proBNP, CA125), and point-of-care ultrasound using the Venous Excess Ultrasound (VExUS) protocol, between patients with preserved (HFpEF) and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). We conducted a prospective observational study involving 90 hospitalized AHF patients, 80 of whom underwent a complete VExUS assessment. Although patients with HFrEF exhibited higher levels of NT-proBNP and CA125, and more frequent signs of third-space fluid accumulation such as pleural effusion and ascites, no statistically significant differences were found in VExUS grades between the two groups. These findings suggest that the VExUS protocol provides consistent and reproducible information on systemic venous congestion, regardless of LVEF phenotype. Its integration into clinical practice may help refine congestion assessment and optimize diuretic therapy. Further multicenter studies with larger populations are warranted to validate its diagnostic and prognostic utility and to determine its potential role in guiding individualized treatment strategies in AHF. info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MCIU/PID2022-139143OA-I00 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess by https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.es info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion Campos-Sáenz de Santamaría, Amelia Universidad de Zaragoza Albines Fiestas, Zoila Stany Universidad de Zaragoza Crespo-Aznarez, Silvia Sánchez-Marteles, Marta Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0002-2338-7637 Garcés-Horna, Vanesa Universidad de Zaragoza Alcaine-Otín, Alejandro (orcid)0000-0002-0166-2837 Gimenez-Lopez, Ignacio Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0002-6043-4869 Rubio-Gracia, Jorge Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0002-4769-7154 1012 410 Universidad de Zaragoza Dpto. Farmac.Fisiol.y Med.L.F. Área Fisiología 1007 610 Universidad de Zaragoza Dpto. Medicina, Psiqu. y Derm. Area Medicina 15, 15 (2025), 8157 [12 pp.] Appl. sci. Applied Sciences (Switzerland) 2076-3417 788452 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/162501/files/texto_completo.pdf Versión publicada 2653937 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/162501/files/texto_completo.jpg?subformat=icon icon Versión publicada oai:zaguan.unizar.es:162501 articulos driver 2025-10-17-14:17:08 ARTICLE