Skip to main content

REVIEW article

Front. Cardiovasc. Med.
Sec. Intensive Care Cardiovascular Medicine
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2024.1520596
This article is part of the Research Topic Critical Care Cardiology for Cardiovascular Emergencies View all 7 articles

Levosimendan for Sepsis-induced myocardial Dysfunction: friend or foe?

Provisionally accepted
  • 1 Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
  • 2 Department of Critical Care Medicine, Chongqing University Three Gorges Hospital, Chongqing, China
  • 3 Shanghai Institute of Immunology, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, Shanghai Municipality, China
  • 4 Department of Critical Care Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Xinjiang, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Sepsis-induced myocardial dysfunction (SIMD) involves reversible myocardial dysfunction. The use of inotropes can restore adequate cardiac output and tissue perfusion, but conventional inotropes, such as dobutamine and adrenaline, have limited efficacy in such situations. Levosimendan is a novel inotrope that acts in a catecholamineindependent manner. However, study results regarding the treatment of SIMD with levosimendan are inconsistent, and the use of levosimendan is highly controversial. In this review, we summarized the therapeutic mechanisms of levosimendan in SIMD and considered recent research on how to improve the efficacy of levosimendan in SIMD. We also analyzed the potential and limitations of levosimendan for the treatment of SIMD to provide ideas for future clinical trials and the clinical application of levosimendan in SIMD.

    Keywords: levosimendan, inotropes, Sepsis, Sepsis-induced myocardial cardiac dysfunction, organ protection

    Received: 31 Oct 2024; Accepted: 16 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Du, Xiong, Hou, Xiangyou and Pan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Pengfei Pan, Department of Critical Care Medicine, Chongqing University Three Gorges Hospital, Chongqing, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.