[Diuretics in heart failure and Karl Popper's turkey]

Heart failure and renal failure often coexist in the same patient. This condition is commonly referred to as cardiorenal syndrome. When this occurs, patient survival worsens significantly with increasing degree of renal dysfunction. Management of this complex patient poses treatment challenges because of unstable hemodynamics (the problem is to reduce congestion without affecting organ perfusion) and very high mid-term in-hospital mortality. Congestion is a typical feature of this syndrome, and use of diuretics is mandatory. Loop diuretics should be administered first. However, poor attention to pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic properties of loop diuretics may contribute to the development of diuretic resistance leading to iatrogenic hyponatremia. Accordingly, emphasis is given to the importance of sequential nephron blockade to reduce the number of non-responder patients to diuretics and to recognize a possible role for acquaretics.