title: Levosimendan vs. dobutamine: outcomes for acute heart failure patients on beta-blockers in SURVIVE.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Many chronic heart failure (CHF) patients take beta-blockers. When such patients are hospitalized for decompensation, it remains unclear how ongoing beta-blocker treatment will affect outcomes of acute inotrope therapy. We aimed to assess outcomes of SURVIVE patients who were on beta-blocker therapy before receiving a single intravenous infusion of levosimendan or dobutamine.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Cox proportional hazard regression revealed all-cause mortality benefits of levosimendan treatment over dobutamine when the SURVIVE population was stratified according to baseline presence/absence of CHF history and use/non-use of beta-blocker treatment at baseline. All-cause mortality was lower in the CHF/levosimendan group than in the CHF/dobutamine group, showing treatment differences by hazard ratio (HR) at days 5 (3.4 vs. 5.8%; HR, 0.58, CI 0.33-1.01, P = 0.05) and 14 (7.0 vs. 10.3%; HR, 0.67, CI 0.45-0.99, P = 0.045). For patients who used beta-blockers (n = 669), mortality was significantly lower for levosimendan than dobutamine at day 5 (1.5 vs. 5.1% deaths; HR, 0.29; CI 0.11-0.78, P = 0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Levosimendan may be better than dobutamine for treating patients with a history of CHF or those on beta-blocker therapy when they are hospitalized with acute decompensations. These findings are preliminary but important for planning future studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Hôpital Lariboisière, APHP; Université Paris 7 Paris Diderot; U 942 INSERM, 2 rue Ambroise-Paré, Paris Cedex 10 75475, France. alexandre.mebazaa@lrb.aphp.fr
authors.forename: Alexandre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mebazaa
authors.forename: Markku S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Nieminen
authors.forename: Gerasimos S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Filippatos
authors.forename: John G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Cleland
authors.forename: Jeffrey E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Salon
authors.forename: Roopal
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Thakkar
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Padley
authors.forename: Bidan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cohen-Solal
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000319:Adrenergic beta-Antagonists / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000368:Aged; D002316:Cardiotonic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002423:Cause of Death / Q000639:trends; D004280:Dobutamine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D006835:Hydrazones / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007262:Infusions, Intravenous; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011724:Pyridazines / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000077464:Simendan; D013318:Stroke Volume / Q000187:drug effects; D015996:Survival Rate / Q000639:trends; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000319:Adrenergic beta-Antagonists; D002316:Cardiotonic Agents; D006835:Hydrazones; D011724:Pyridazines; D000077464:Simendan; D004280:Dobutamine