Pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic interrelationships of intravenous and oral levosimendan in patients with severe congestive heart failure.

Abstract

Both 6-hour infusion and 2 mg single dose of levosimendan showed that levosimendan possesses moderate inotropic and vasodilatory effects in patients with severe congestive heart failure, which could be described as counter-clockwise hysteresis. It seemed that the vasodilatory effect appeared earlier than the inotropic effect.