Levosimendan following coronary artery bypass grafting in a patient with end-stage renal failure: a case report.
Levosimendan is a novel inotropic agent indicated for patients with decompensated heart failure. It has well recognised mechanisms of action. Its use however, has not been described in patients with end-stage renal failure. This report describes the use of levosimendan in a post-operative coronary artery bypass graft patient with decompensated heart failure and end-stage renal failure previously receiving dialysis six days per week. Levosimendan proved to be a safe and useful agent when used as a continuous intravenous infusion initially at 0.05 microg/kg/min then increasing up to 0.2 microg/kg/min for a total of 42 hours.
Department of Intensive Care Medicine, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Nedlands, Western Australia. spiro@graduate.uwa.edu.au
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Raftopoulos