Renal, but not systemic, hemodynamic effects of dopamine are influenced by the severity of congestive heart failure.
OBJECTIVE
To determine whether the short-term systemic and renal hemodynamic response to dopamine is influenced by clinical severity of congestive heart failure.


METHODS
Effects of increasing doses of dopamine were assessed in patients consecutively admitted for acutely decompensated congestive heart failure.


METHODS
Intensive care unit.


METHODS
We enrolled 16 congestive heart failure patients stratified by clinical severity (New York Heart Association [NYHA] class III, n = 8; NYHA class IV, n = 8) and two additional NYHA class III patients as controls.


METHODS
Measurements were carried out throughout five 20-min experimental periods: baseline, dopamine infusion at 2, 4, and 6 microg x kg(-1) x min(-1), and recovery. Controls received a similar amount of saline.


RESULTS
Systemic and renal hemodynamics were determined respectively by right cardiac catheterization and radioisotopes (iodine 131-labeled hippuran and iodine 125-labeled iothalamate clearance). The peak increase in heart rate and cardiac index occurred at a dopamine dose of 4-6 microg x kg(-1) x min(-1). The dose-response relation was similar in NYHA classes III and IV. Improvement in effective renal plasma flow and glomerular filtration rate, peaking at 4 microg x kg(-1) x min(-1), was more rapid and marked in NYHA class III than class IV patients, in whom the renal fraction of cardiac output failed to increase. The systemic and renal effects of dopamine were independent of age. No change occurred in controls.


CONCLUSIONS
The dose of dopamine producing an optimal improvement of systemic and renal hemodynamics in congestive heart failure is higher than usually reported. A greater clinical severity of congestive heart failure impairs the renal effects of dopamine, probably through a selective loss in renal vasodilating capacity.
Ungar
Andrea
A
Department of Critical Care Medicine and Surgery, Unit of Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine, University of Florence and Azienda Ospedaliera Careggi, Florence, Italy.
Fumagalli
Stefano
S
Marini
Maurizio
M
Di Serio
Claudia
C
Tarantini
Francesca
F
Boncinelli
Lorenzo
L
Baldereschi
Giorgio
G
Valoti
Paolo
P
La Cava
Giuseppe
G
Olianti
Catia
C
Masotti
Giulio
G
Marchionni
Niccolò
N
D000208:Acute Disease; D000368:Aged; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000187:drug effects; D002302:Cardiac Output / Q000187:drug effects; D002316:Cardiotonic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003422:Critical Care; D004298:Dopamine / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D016903:Drug Monitoring; D005260:Female; D005919:Glomerular Filtration Rate / Q000187:drug effects; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000145:classification / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000187:drug effects; D006439:Hemodynamics / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D007262:Infusions, Intravenous; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011669:Pulmonary Wedge Pressure / Q000187:drug effects; D012079:Renal Circulation / Q000187:drug effects*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D002316:Cardiotonic Agents; D004298:Dopamine