Fluid removal systems and methods for removing fluid from a tissue site are presented. The system includes a semi-permeable inbound conduit (106), which is fluidly coupled to a treatment-fluid delivery unit (104), for placement proximate to a tissue site (102), and a semi-permeable outbound conduit (108), which is fluidly coupled to the inbound conduit (106) and to a treatment-fluid collector (114), for placement proximate to the tissue site (102) on the patient. The treatment-fluid collector (114) receives the treatment fluid and a recruited fluid from the tissue site (102). A recruited- fluid determination unit (122) may be coupled to the treatment-fluid collector (114) to determine a volume of fluid recruited from the patient. The treatment fluid is any fluid (including a gas) that pulls fluid from the interstitial and intracellular space. A reduced-pressure treatment subsystem may also be included, among other things, for removing ascites and other fluids from a body cavity.
