Abstract
Aims: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of levosimendan in patients with left ventricular failure complicating acute myocardial infarction. Methods and Results: Levosimendan at different doses (0·1-0·4 μg . kg-1 . min-1) or placebo were administered intravenously for 6 h to 504 patients in a randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind study. The primary end-point was hypotension or myocardial ischaemia of clinical significance adjudicated by an independent Safety Committee. Secondary end-points included risk of death and worsening heart failure, symptoms of heart failure and all-cause mortality. The incidence of ischaemia and/or hypotension was similar in all treatment groups (P=0·319). A higher frequency of ischaemia and/or hypotension was only seen in the highest levosimendan dose group. Levosimendan-treated patients experienced lower risk of death and worsening heart failure than patients receiving placebo, during both the 6h infusion (2·0% vs 5·9%; P=0·033) and over 24 h (4·0% vs 8·8%; P=0·044). Mortality was lower with levosimendan compared with placebo at 14 days (11·7% vs 19·6%; hazard ratio 0·56 [95% CI 0·33-0·951; P=0·031) and the reduction was maintained at the 180-day retrospective follow-up (22·6% vs 31·4%; 0·67 [0·45-1·00], P=0·053). Conclusions: Levosimendan at doses 0·1-0·2 μg . kg-1 . min-1 did not induce hypotension or ischaemia and reduced the risk of worsening heart failure and death in patients with left ventricular failure complicating acute myocardial infarction.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1422-1432 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | European Heart Journal |
Volume | 23 |
Issue number | 18 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Sept 2002 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords*
- Hypotension
- Ischaemia
- Left ventricular failure
- Levosimendan
- Mortality
- Myocardial infarction
Field of Science*
- 3.2 Clinical medicine
Publication Type*
- 1.1. Scientific article indexed in Web of Science and/or Scopus database