Faculty Collaboration Database

Levosimendan enhances cardiac performance after cardiopulmonary bypass: a prospective, randomized placebo-controlled trial. J Cardiovasc Pharmacol 1999 Aug;34(2):219-28

Date

08/13/1999

Pubmed ID

10445673

DOI

10.1097/00005344-199908000-00007

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-0032771929 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   146 Citations

Abstract

Levosimendan is a new myofilament calcium (Ca2+) sensitizer that increases myocardial contractility by stabilizing the Ca2+-bound conformation of troponin C. We tested the hypothesis that levosimendan enhances cardiac performance after cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). Anesthesia was induced and maintained with midazolam, sufentanil, and vecuronium in 18 patients randomly assigned to receive levosimendan (18 or 36 microg/kg loading dose and 0.2 or 0.3 microg/kg/min infusion, respectively) or placebo 15 min before and continued for 6 h after CPB. Significant (p < 0.05) increases in heart rate (HR) and decreases in systemic vascular resistance (SVR) occurred 15 min after CPB in patients receiving placebo. Later increases in mean arterial pressure (MAP) and cardiac output (CO) and decreases in stroke volume (SV) and pulmonary vascular resistance also were observed. HR was greater in patients receiving high- but not low-dose levosimendan versus placebo immediately after CPB. MAP also was lower in patients treated with either dose of levosimendan compared with placebo after CPB. Levosimendan increased CO and decreased SVR (4.2 +/- 0.4 to 7.9 +/- 0.4 L/min and 1,150 +/- 99 to 512 +/- 42 dyn/s/cm5, respectively, 15 min after CPB; mean +/- SEM). CO and SV were higher and SVR was lower in patients receiving levosimendan versus placebo after CPB. No differences in arterial oxygenation and perioperative arrhythmias (Holter analysis) were observed between groups. The results indicate that levosimendan enhances cardiac performance after CPB in humans.

Author List

Nijhawan N, Nicolosi AC, Montgomery MW, Aggarwal A, Pagel PS, Warltier DC

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Aged
Cardiopulmonary Bypass
Cardiotonic Agents
Double-Blind Method
Heart
Hemodynamics
Humans
Hydrazones
Middle Aged
Prospective Studies
Pyridazines
Ventricular Function, Left