Plasma levels of artial natriuretic polypeptide (ANP), cyclic GMP (cGMP), renin activity (PRA), angiotensin II (AT II) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) were measured by radioimmunoassay in 30 patients with acute heart failure (AHF), 30 chronic heart failure (CHF), 30 chronic atrial fibrillation (CAF) and 27 paraxysmal atrial fibrillation and supraventricular tachycardia (SVT). The results showed that plasma ANP and cGMP levels in all these four groups were significantly higher than those in the normal group (P