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Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 2004;26:228-230
© 2004 Elsevier Science NL

Case report

Treatment of acute heart failure in an infant after cardiac surgery using levosimendan

^a Department of Anesthesiology und Intensive Care, Charité University–Hospital, Humboldt University, Schumann Str. 20-21, Berlin D-10117, Germany
^b Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Charité University–Hospital, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany
^c Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Charité University–Hospital, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany

Received 18 December 2003; received in revised form 1 March 2004; accepted 24 March 2004.

^* Corresponding author. Tel.: +49-30-450-531012; fax: +49-30-450-911
e-mail: jan.braun{at}charite.de

An infant, 2 months old, underwent cardiac surgery because of congenital heart defects and pulmonary hypertension. Surgery was performed in hypothermia and cardiac standstill. On the second day after surgery the infant had to be resuscitated due to a combination of acute left-ventricular failure, pulmonary vascular hypertension and a slight right-to-left-shunt. A breakthrough in the treatment was achieved by using levosimendan to improve left-ventricular function and to decrease vascular resistance.

Key Words: Neonatal cardiac surgery • Postoperative resuscitation • Calcium sensitizer • Levosimendan

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