Levosimendan Following Cardiac Surgery

A best evidence topic was written to address if perioperative levosimendan improves mortality following cardiac surgery. Fourteen papers represented the best available evidence. An older meta-analysis summarising 11 of these trials concluded that there were fewer deaths in the levosimendan group compared to the control group (OR 0.41, p < 0.001) however, this was driven by the results of three included trials by the same author. Three larger and more recent randomised controlled trials failed to demonstrate significant differences in mortality. We conclude that levosimendan lacks robust evidence to substantiate claims of mortality benefit in cardiac surgery patients and should not be used routinely in such patients.