Hormones and hemodynamics in heart failure.

Heart failure is a major cause of cardiovascular mortality and morbidity, resulting in more than 1 million hospitalizations per year, and is the most common hospital-discharge diagnosis among patients older than 65 years.1 In recent years, much has been learned about the pathophysiology of heart failure, particularly in the area of fluid and electrolyte metabolism, and this will be the focus of the present review. Regulation of Body-Fluid Volume There is considerable evidence in support of a unifying hypothesis of the regulation of body-fluid volume that is applicable to patients with edematous disorders such as cardiac failure, to patients with . . .