Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Meta-Analysis
. 2017 Oct 19;21(1):252.
doi: 10.1186/s13054-017-1849-0.

Levosimendan for patients with severely reduced left ventricular systolic function and/or low cardiac output syndrome undergoing cardiac surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Filippo Sanfilippo  1 , Joshua B Knight  2   3 , Sabino Scolletta  4 , Cristina Santonocito  2 , Federico Pastore  2 , Ferdinando L Lorini  5 , Luigi Tritapepe  6 , Andrea Morelli  7 , Antonio Arcadipane  2
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Levosimendan for patients with severely reduced left ventricular systolic function and/or low cardiac output syndrome undergoing cardiac surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Filippo Sanfilippo et al. Crit Care. .

Abstract

Background: Previous studies have shown beneficial effects of levosimendan in high-risk patients undergoing cardiac surgery. Two large randomized controlled trials (RCTs), however, showed no advantages of levosimendan.

Methods: We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis (MEDLINE and Embase from inception until March 30, 2017), investigating whether levosimendan offers advantages compared with placebo in high-risk cardiac surgery patients, as defined by preoperative left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) ≤ 35% and/or low cardiac output syndrome (LCOS). The primary outcomes were mortality at longest follow-up and need for postoperative renal replacement therapy (RRT). Secondary postoperative outcomes investigated included myocardial injury, supraventricular arrhythmias, development of LCOS, acute kidney injury (AKI), duration of mechanical ventilation, intensive care unit and hospital lengths of stay, and incidence of hypotension during drug infusion.

Results: Six RCTs were included in the meta-analysis, five of which investigated only patients with LVEF ≤ 35% and one of which included predominantly patients with LCOS. Mortality was similar overall (OR 0.64 [0.37, 1.11], p = 0.11) but lower in the subgroup with LVEF < 35% (OR 0.51 [0.32, 0.82], p = 0.005). Need for RRT was reduced by levosimendan both overall (OR 0.63 [0.42, 0.94], p = 0.02) and in patients with LVEF < 35% (OR 0.55 [0.31, 0.97], p = 0.04). Among secondary outcomes, we found lower postoperative LCOS in patients with LVEF < 35% receiving levosimendan (OR 0.49 [0.27, 0.89], p = 0.02), lower overall AKI (OR 0.62 [0.42, 0.92], p = 0.02), and a trend toward lower mechanical support, both overall (p = 0.07) and in patients with LVEF < 35% (p = 0.05).

Conclusions: Levosimendan reduces mortality in patients with preoperative severely reduced LVEF but does not affect overall mortality. Levosimendan reduces the need for RRT after high-risk cardiac surgery.

Keywords: Ejection fraction; Intensive care; Mortality; Renal replacement therapy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Not applicable.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Forest plot depicting analysis of the risk of mortality at longest follow-up in patients treated with levosimendan vs placebo. LVEF Left ventricular ejection fraction, LCOS Low cardiac output syndrome, M-H Mantel-Haenszel
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Forest plot depicting analysis of the risk for postoperative renal replacement therapy in patients treated with levosimendan vs placebo. LVEF Left ventricular ejection fraction, LCOS Low cardiac output syndrome, M-H Mantel-Haenszel
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Forest plot depicting analysis of the risk for postoperative low cardiac output syndrome in patients treated with levosimendan vs placebo and with low preoperative left ventricular ejection fraction. M-H Mantel-Haenszel
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Hammon JW. Risk factors for cardiac surgery: the high-risk patient. Semin Cardiothorac Vasc Anesth. 2004;8(1):15–7. doi: 10.1177/108925320400800105. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Granton J, Cheng D. Risk stratification models for cardiac surgery. Semin Cardiothorac Vasc Anesth. 2008;12(3):167–74. doi: 10.1177/1089253208323681. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Mozaffarian D, Benjamin EJ, Go AS, Arnett DK, Blaha MJ, Cushman M, Das SR, de Ferranti S, Despres JP, Fullerton HJ, et al. Executive summary: heart disease and stroke statistics—2016 update: a report from the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2016;133(4):447–54. doi: 10.1161/CIR.0000000000000366. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bridgewater B, Grayson AD, Brooks N, Grotte G, Fabri BM, Au J, Hooper T, Jones M, Keogh B. Has the publication of cardiac surgery outcome data been associated with changes in practice in northwest England: an analysis of 25,730 patients undergoing CABG surgery under 30 surgeons over eight years. Heart. 2007;93(6):744–8. doi: 10.1136/hrt.2006.106393. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Manji RA, Arora RC, Singal RK, Hiebert BM, Menkis AH. Early rehospitalization after prolonged intensive care unit stay post cardiac surgery: outcomes and modifiable risk factors. J Am Heart Assoc. 2017;6(2):e004072. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.116.004072. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms