Response to Letter to the editor regarding ‘Discordance between estimated and measured changes in plasma volume among patients with acute heart failure’

[...]we did not find statistically meaningful clinical differences between stable and unstable RCV groups regarding baseline characteristics (including age, sex, weight, height, body mass index, blood pressure, heart rate, left ventricular ejection fraction, chronic kidney disease stage, N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide levels, and comorbidities). [...]it appears difficult to predict a priori, which patients would exhibit a stable RCV. [...]these patients were enrolled as per study protocol, and the blood losses or requirement for blood transfusions developed later during the course of the study. [...]the association of ‘rising ePV’ with poor outcomes may simply be driven by the anticipated inverse association of falling haemoglobin or haematocrit with poor outcomes.