How Aquapheresis Works

A Non-Drug, Non-Diuretic Treatment Option for Fluid Overload:

Aquapheresis is a medical therapy designed to remove excess salt and water from the body safely, predictably, and effectively from patients suffering from fluid overload. It removes excess salt and water and helps to restore a patient’s fluid balance or euvolemia.

Click on the image to the right to view an interactive animation of Aquapheresis with the Aquadex FlexFlow.

Physicians can specify and adjust the exact amount and rate of fluid to be removed from each patient, resulting in a gradual reduction that has no significant clinical impact on blood pressure, heart rate, or the balance of electrolytes (chemical substances, such as sodium, potassium, and chloride) in the body.

Up to 500 ml or 1.1 lb of fluid can be safely removed per hour. The average removal rate is 250 ml or ½ lb an hour and treatment usually lasts about 24 hours. The total hospital stay with Aquapheresis therapy is around three to four days.

The therapy can be used in combination with or as an alternative to diuretics (drugs that help rid the body of excess water), inotropic drug therapies (drugs that stimulate the heart to expel more blood with each beat), or vasoactive drug therapies (drugs that dilate blood vessels) to achieve the target fluid removal goal for the patient. And, because it removes sodium and resets body fluid levels, Aquapheresis may also improve the effectiveness of oral diuretics that patients take on an ongoing basis.

Aquapheresis using the Aquadex FlexFlow has been used to treat thousands of patients and is in active use in hundreds of hospitals across the United States.