İrfan Tursun, Mustafa Ozan Gürsoy, Turgay Ulaş, Fatma Paksoy Türköz, Erkan Özteki̇n, Fatih Borlu

Keywords: Heart failure, levosimendan; NT-proBNP; echocardiography

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The effect of levosimendan on NT-proBNP levels and echocardiographic parameters in patients with decompensated heart failure receiving optimal medical therapy was evaluated.METHODS: The study included 30 patients with acute heart failure with New York Heart Association (NYHA) class IV. Although all patients had received standard heart failure therapy, they required support of an inotropic agent. They received bolus and maintenance infusion of levosimendan treatment for 24 hours. Echocardiography was performed before the levosimendan treatment and at the 5th day after the treatment. NT-proBNP levels were taken at 48th hour and 5th day.RESULTS: Levosimendan treatment (bolus+maintenance infusion) was performed in all patients without any interruption or complication. A significant reduction in NT-proBNP levels was observed at the end of 48th hour and 5th day compared to baseline values (p