Central venous pressure as end-point fluid removal in drowning patients: A case report

Abstract

Central venous pressure (CVP) is used as a guidance to control hemodynamics and to achieve the efficacy of hemodynamic balance. The drowning patient experienced a laryngeal spasm, which caused water passively enter the respiratory tract and accumulated in the lungs. Excess fluid in the lungs leads to pulmonary hypertension, venous congestion, and increased CVP. The use of diuretics guided by CVP values is the best way to achieve hemodynamic balance. Two drowning patients in different water had an increased CVP up to 12 mmHg in the sea, with serum creatinine (sCr) of 0.5 mg/dL and cumulative fluid balance (CFB) of −250 cc, and others in the lake CVP up to 14 mmHg with sCr of 0.7 mg/dL and CFB of −320 cc. Both were given furosemide at a dose of 5 mg from the first day of treatment until day 5 when both patients’ CVP returned to normal values, CVP of 5 mmHg, sCr of 0.6 mg/dL, and CFB of −1105 cc, and the others with CVP of 1 mmHg, sCr of 0.6, and CFB of −1170, then furosemide was discontinued. The use of furosemide with CVP guidance shows effective results in reducing fluids and venous congestion and is safe for the kidney, which is marked by normal values of sCr and CFB.