Ultrafiltration improves the clinical condition of patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) through a reduction of excessive body water. We investigated the relationships among intra and extravascular fluids, hemodynamics and neurohumoral pattern following plasma water subtraction. In 55 patients with CHF (35 in NYHA class IV, Group A, and 20 in NYHA class II-III, Group B), removal of 3242 +/- 201 ml and 1741 +/- 119 ml of plasma water acutely reduced plasma volume (calculated from hematocrit changes) by -20.7% and -12.9% in Group A and in Group B, respectively. Plasma volume returned to baseline values within 48 hours. Body weight and ventricular filling pressures also lowered and remained so for 2 days. After ultrafiltration urinary output increased and norepinephrine, renin activity and aldosterone plasma levels decreased in Group A, while a fall of diuresis and a rapid rise of plasma levels of the 3 hormones were observed in Group B. Two days after ultrafiltration the persistence of reduced body weight with recovery of plasma volume indicates a shift of fluid from the extravascular to the intravascular compartment. The different behaviour of hemodynamics, urinary output and neurohumoral pattern changes observed in the 2 groups after ultrafiltration, suggest that in severe heart failure (Group A) the physiological responses to intravascular volume depletion are unsettled while are preserved in less severe stages of the disease (Group B).