• Martin Fredholm, Kirsten Jörgensen, Erik Houltz, and Sven-Erik Ricksten.
• Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden.
• Acta Anaesthesiol Scand. 2020 Feb 1; 64 (2): 193-201.

BackgroundThe aim of the present study was to compare the effects of milrinone and levosimendan on right ventricular (RV) inotropy and lusitropy in patients after aortic valve replacement (AVR) for aortic stenosis, a procedure in which an abnormal postoperative RV function may be seen.MethodsIn a prospective, blinded trial, 31 patients were randomized to receive either milrinone (0.4 and 0.8 µg/kg/min, n = 16) or levosimendan (0.1 and 0.2 µg/kg/min, n = 15) after AVR for aortic stenosis. RV performance, afterload (pulmonary arterial elastance), RV strain, systolic (SR-S) and early diastolic (SR-E) strain rate were measured by pulmonary artery thermodilution catheterization and transoesophageal two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography. To circumvent the indirect effects of inodilator-induced hemodynamic changes on RV systolic and diastolic deformation, pulmonary arterial elastance, central venous pressure and heart rate were maintained constant by atrial pacing, plasma volume expansion with colloids and phenylephrine-induced vasoconstriction during treatment with the inotropes.ResultsA dose-dependent increase in stroke volume index and cardiac index by approximately 20% were seen with both agents at the highest doses, with no difference between groups (P = .792 and 0.744, respectively). In both groups, RV strain and SR-S dose-dependently increased by 20% and 15%-19%, respectively, at the highest doses (P = .742 and 0.259, respectively) with no difference between groups. SR-E improved by both agents 20%-24% at the highest dose with no difference between groups (P = .714).ConclusionsThe direct RV inotropic and lusitropic effects of levosimendan and milrinone were comparable at clinically relevant infusion rates.© 2019 The Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica Foundation. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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