Effects of intravascular volume loading and unloading on atrial sizes and left ventricular function in dialyzed uremic man

To evaluate the extent to which opposing changes in circulating blood volume might influence atrial dimensions and left ventricular performance, 11 dialyzed uremic patients with normal baseline left ventricular contractile indices were studied immediately before and after body fluid removal by ultrafiltration and again when they had returned to their original fluid-overloaded state (48 h later). Atrial and left ventricular dimensions were measured by two-dimensional echocardiography, and total blood volume by 131 I-labelled serum albumin, on every occasion