Effect of levosimendan treatment in cardiac surgery: a network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The prophylactic administration of levosimendan in patients undergoing cardiac surgery remains clinically contentious, particularly regarding its efficacy and safety in improving key postoperative outcomes, such as cardiac function, renal protection, and mortality in high-risk surgical populations. Existing randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are heterogeneous in sample size, timing, and dosing of levosimendan and comparator inotropes and have yielded neutral or conflicting results for these endpoints. Moreover, prior meta-analyses have predominantly used pairwise comparisons and have not systematically compared levosimendan with all major inotropic alternatives (e.g., dobutamine, milrinone, and standard therapy) across multiple clinically relevant outcomes. As a result,

SUBMITTER: Zhu B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12932496 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature