PMID- 17826646
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20070925
LR  - 20181201
IS  - 1532-8414 (Electronic)
IS  - 1071-9164 (Linking)
VI  - 13
IP  - 7
DP  - 2007 Sep
TI  - A 6-month follow-up of intermittent levosimendan administration effect on 
      systolic function, specific activity questionnaire, and arrhythmia in advanced 
      heart failure.
PG  - 556-9
AB  - BACKGROUND: Levosimendan (LS) improves cardiac contractility without increasing 
      myocardial oxygen demand. We administrated LS on a monthly intermittent 24-hour 
      protocol and evaluated the clinical effect after 6 months in a randomized, open, 
      prospective study. METHODS AND RESULTS: Fifty patients (age 45-65 years) with LV 
      systolic dysfunction and New York Heart Association (NYHA) III or IV were 
      randomized in 2 groups. LS group (n = 25) was compared with a control group (n = 
      25) matched for sex, age, and NYHA class. LS was given monthly on a 24-hour 
      intravenous protocol for 6 months. Patients were evaluated by specific activity 
      questionnaire (SAQ) and echocardiography (ECHO) before and 3 to 5 days after last 
      drug administration, whereas 24-hour Holter recording was performed before and 
      during last drug administration. Patients in LS and control group had same 
      baseline SAQ, ECHO, and Holter parameters. At the end of the study, a larger 
      proportion of patients in the levosimendan group reported improvement in symptoms 
      (dyspnea and fatigue) (65% versus 20% in controls, P < .01). After 6 months, the 
      LS group had a significant increase in LV ejection fraction versus controls (28 
      +/- 7 versus 21 +/- 4 %, P = .003), LV shortening fraction (15 +/- 3 versus 11 
      +/- 3 %, P = .006) and a decrease in mitral regurgitation (1.5 +/- 0.8 versus 2.7 
      +/- 0.6, P = .0001). There was no increase in supraventricular or ventricular 
      beats or supraventricular tachycardia and VT episodes in LS group, compared with 
      controls. Two patients from the LS group died in the 6-month follow-up period, 
      compared with 8 patients in the control group (8% versus 32%, P < .05). 
      CONCLUSIONS: A 6-month intermittent LS treatment in patients with decompensated 
      advanced heart failure improved symptoms and LV systolic function.
FAU - Mavrogeni, Sophie
AU  - Mavrogeni S
AD  - Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center, Athens, Greece.
FAU - Giamouzis, Gregory
AU  - Giamouzis G
FAU - Papadopoulou, Evangelia
AU  - Papadopoulou E
FAU - Thomopoulou, Sophia
AU  - Thomopoulou S
FAU - Dritsas, Athanasios
AU  - Dritsas A
FAU - Athanasopoulos, George
AU  - Athanasopoulos G
FAU - Adreanides, Elias
AU  - Adreanides E
FAU - Vassiliadis, Ioannis
AU  - Vassiliadis I
FAU - Spargias, Konstantinos
AU  - Spargias K
FAU - Panagiotakos, Dimosthenis
AU  - Panagiotakos D
FAU - Cokkinos, Dennis V
AU  - Cokkinos DV
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Randomized Controlled Trial
PL  - United States
TA  - J Card Fail
JT  - Journal of cardiac failure
JID - 9442138
RN  - 0 (Anti-Arrhythmia Agents)
RN  - 0 (Cardiotonic Agents)
RN  - 0 (Hydrazones)
RN  - 0 (Pyridazines)
RN  - 349552KRHK (Simendan)
SB  - IM
MH  - Adult
MH  - Aged
MH  - Aged, 80 and over
MH  - Anti-Arrhythmia Agents/administration & dosage/*therapeutic use
MH  - Arrhythmias, Cardiac/complications/diagnostic imaging/*drug 
      therapy/mortality/physiopathology
MH  - Cardiac Output, Low/complications/diagnostic imaging/*drug 
      therapy/mortality/physiopathology
MH  - Cardiotonic Agents/administration & dosage/*therapeutic use
MH  - Drug Administration Schedule
MH  - Echocardiography
MH  - Electrocardiography, Ambulatory
MH  - Female
MH  - Follow-Up Studies
MH  - Humans
MH  - Hydrazones/administration & dosage/*therapeutic use
MH  - Middle Aged
MH  - Mitral Valve Insufficiency/complications/physiopathology
MH  - Myocardial Contraction
MH  - Pyridazines/administration & dosage/*therapeutic use
MH  - Simendan
MH  - Stroke Volume
MH  - Surveys and Questionnaires
MH  - Systole
MH  - Ventricular Dysfunction, Left/complications/diagnostic imaging/physiopathology
MH  - Ventricular Function, Left/*drug effects
EDAT- 2007/09/11 09:00
MHDA- 2007/09/26 09:00
CRDT- 2007/09/11 09:00
PHST- 2006/04/29 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2007/03/24 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2007/04/17 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2007/09/11 09:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2007/09/26 09:00 [medline]
PHST- 2007/09/11 09:00 [entrez]
AID - S1071-9164(07)00132-7 [pii]
AID - 10.1016/j.cardfail.2007.04.004 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - J Card Fail. 2007 Sep;13(7):556-9. doi: 10.1016/j.cardfail.2007.04.004.