Inodilators

OBJECTIVES: Despite advances in cardiac arrest treatment, high mortality and morbidity rates after successful cardiopulmonary resuscitation are still a major clinical relevant problem. The post cardiac arrest syndrome subsumes myocardial dysfunction, impaired microcirculation, systemic inflammatory response, and neurological impairment. The calcium-sensitizer levosimendan was able to improve myocardial function and initial resuscitation success after experimental cardiac arrest/cardiopulmonary resuscitation...

OBJECTIVE: Catecholaminergic inotropes have a place in the management of low output syndrome and decompensated heart failure but their effect on mortality is debated. Levosimendan is a calcium sensitizer that enhances myocardial contractility without increasing myocardial oxygen use. A meta-analysis was conducted to determine the impact of levosimendan on mortality and hospital stay. DATA SOURCES: BioMedCentral, PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Central Register of clinical trials were searched for pertinent studies...

BACKGROUND: Levosimendan, a novel calcium sensitiser, improves myocardial contractility without causing an increase in myocardial oxygen demand. We compared the effects of levosimendan and dobutamine on haemodynamic performance and clinical outcome in patients with low-output heart failure. METHODS: Patients were recruited into a multicentre, randomised, double-blind, double-dummy, parallel-group trial. Under continuous haemodynamic monitoring, an initial loading dose of levosimendan of 24 microg/kg was infused over 10 min, followed by a continuous infusion of 0...

BACKGROUND: Inodilators are commonly used in critically ill patients, but their effect on survival has not been properly studied to date. The objective of this work was to conduct a network meta-analysis on the effects of inodilators on survival in adult cardiac surgery patients, and to compare and rank drugs that have not been adequately compared in head-to-head trials. METHODS: Relevant studies were independently searched in BioMedCentral, MEDLINE/PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Central Register of clinical trials (updated on May 1, 2014)...