Central and renal hemodynamic effects of a new agonist at peripheral dopamine- and beta-2 adrenoreceptors (dopexamine) in patients with heart failure.

The effect of dopexamine, a new dopamine analogue, on central and renal hemodynamics was evaluated in nine patients with chronic, congestive heart failure caused by severe left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction. The administration of the maximally tolerated dose (7.2 +/- 4 micrograms/kg/min) resulted in a significant increase in cardiac index from 1.