The study, called ADVOR (Acetazolamide in Decompensated heart failure with Volume OveRload), involved 519 patients from 27 Belgian hospitals. Half of the patients were treated with a conventional diuretic (loop diuretic) in combination with a placebo, while the other half were treated with a conventional diuretic in combination with another type of diuretic, Acetazolamide, received. This is a very old drug that is now hardly used (except to treat glaucoma and altitude sickness) and is very cheap because the patents on it have expired.
The study shows that the patients who received the combination of the two diuretics were 46% more likely to have eliminated the excess fluid following three days. In addition, they might be discharged from the hospital much earlier.
