ABSTRACT
Introduction: Congestive heart failure (CHF) is defined by a cardiac deficit in supplying normal oxygen and nutrient demands to the body. Among the many drug therapies for relief of CHF symptoms are diuretics in the treatment of edemas associated with this condition, which prevent fluid accumulation in tissues, and relieve the symptoms. Furosemide is a loop diuretic that is commonly used to this end, whose most common side effect is electrolyte imbalance, particularly hypokalemia. Potassium supplementation during treatment is recommended at a preventive measure. Objectives: To evaluate the clinical response to the use of the combination of furosemide and potassium chloride in patients presenting non-acute CHF, with respect to: 1) Signs and symptoms of CHF 2) Serum sodium and potassium levels registered in the patient chart 3) Incidence of laboratory alterations 4) Incidence of adverse events.Materials and Methods: This was a descriptive, analytic, retrospective study performed at Hospital Universitário Constantino Otaviano, UNIFESO, evaluating medical charts of patients presenting non-acute CHF who were treated with the combination of furosemide and potassium chloride. Only patients presenting laboratory data from before and after treatment were included. For each patient, the hospital chart was analyzed in order to complete the Clinical Research Form (CRF). The CRFs were filled, stored, coded, and the data were analyzed using GraphPad Prism 5.0 software. Results: There was a clinically significant decrease from pretreatment in the number of patients presenting all signs and symptoms of CHF, with the exception of nausea. Vital signs improved significantly in relation to pretreatment values. Sodium and potassium levels decreased, but remained within reference range, as did other laboratory evaluations performed. In addition to the furosemide + potassium chloride treatment, 59/60 patients were prescribed additional medications. A total of 35 adverse events were...