Theophylline elimination in congestive heart failure.

The elimination of theophylline (clearance, half-life) was investigated in 50 patients with chronic congestive heart failure (grade III/IV) and in 20 controls. The cardiac diagnosis was based on clinical and hemodynamic parameters. Patients with congestion of the liver showed a significant reduction of the theophylline body clearance to 25.7 ml/kg/h +/- 12.1 vs 68.3 ml/kg/h +/- 14.8 in the control group, and a corresponding prolongation of the half-life to 5.7 h +/- 2.5 vs 3.1 h +/- 1.4 in the control group. The main pathogenetic factor is obviously the functioning hepatic tissue, reflected by the galactose elimination capacity (r = 0.666; P less than 0.01; theophylline clearance vs galactose elimination capacity).