Clinical pharmacology of levosimendan.

Levosimendan has been developed for the treatment of decompensated heart failure and is used intravenously when patients with heart failure require immediate initiation of drug therapy. It increases cardiac contractility and induces vasodilatation. The pharmacokinetics of levosimendan are linear at the therapeutic dose range of 0.

Pharmacokinetics of levosimendan and its active metabolite OR-1896 in rapid and slow acetylators.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the pharmacokinetics of levosimendan and to determine the primary pharmacokinetic parameters of the pharmacologically active metabolite OR-1896 in rapid and slow acetylators.

Methods: Levosimendan was administered as a constant rate (0.1 microg/(kg min)) i.

Pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of oral levosimendan and its metabolites in patients with severe congestive heart failure: a dosing interval study.

The objective of this study was to explore the pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of oral levosimendan in patients with severe congestive heart failure. This was a randomized, parallel-group, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Oral levosimendan 2 to 8 mg daily or placebo was administered to 25 patients with New York Heart Association class III-IV congestive heart failure for 4 weeks.

Pharmacokinetics of levosimendan in pediatric patients evaluated for cardiac surgery.

Objective: The objective of the study was to evaluate the pharmacokinetics, hemodynamic effects, and safety of levosimendan in children with congenital heart disease.

Design: Open, one group, single-dose study.

Setting: Cardiac catheter laboratory in a pediatric cardiology department of a university hospital.

Pharmacodynamic interactions of levosimendan and felodipine in patients with coronary heart disease.

Objective: The aim was to study the pharmacodynamic interactions and safety of the co-administration of the calcium sensitizer levosimendan and the calcium antagonist felodipine in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) and with normal ejection fraction (EF).

Methods: The study was a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study in 24 male patients with Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS) class II CHD, consisting of four treatment periods, each period lasting for 7-10 days. In the first period the patients received either oral levosimendan (LS) (0.

Pharmacokinetics of levosimendan and its circulating metabolites in patients with heart failure after an extended continuous infusion of levosimendan.

Aims: The purpose of the study was to characterize the pharmacokinetics of levosimendan and its metabolites OR-1855 and OR-1896 in patients with congestive heart failure.

Methods: Levosimendan was administered as a continuous intravenous infusion for 7 days. Twelve subjects received the drug at an infusion rate of 0.

Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of intravenous inotropic agents.

Positive inotropic drugs have various mechanisms of action. Long-term use of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)-dependent drugs has adverse effects on the prognosis of heart failure patients, whereas digoxin has neutral effect on mortality. There are, however, little data on the effects of intravenous inotropic drugs on the outcome of patients.

Population pharmacokinetics of levosimendan in patients with congestive heart failure.

Aims: The aim of this study was to characterize the population pharmacokinetics of levosimendan in patients with heart failure (NYHA grades III and IV) and its relationship to demographic factors, disease severity and concomitant use of digoxin and beta-blocking agents.

Methods: Data from two efficacy studies with levosimendan administered by intravenous infusion were combined (190 patients in total). The data were analysed using a nonlinear mixed-effects modelling approach as implemented in the NONMEM program.

Pharmacodynamics and safety of a new calcium sensitizer, levosimendan, and its metabolites during an extended infusion in patients with severe heart failure.

Levosimendan is a new calcium sensitizer developed for the short-term intravenous treatment of congestive heart failure. The aims of the present open-label, nonrandomized study were to determine the tolerability, hemodynamic effects, and the basic pharmacokinetics of levosimendan and its metabolites during an extended continuous infusion of levosimendan. Twenty-four patients with New York Heart Association (NYHA) III-IV heart failure in two groups of 12 patients were exposed to either 0.