The study did not meet its primary endpoint of a statistically significant reduction in 180-day all-cause mortality although it did produce a slight improvement in mortality rate over the period.
“Although the study did not discern a difference in long-term outcome between levosimendan and dobutamine, earlier timepoints, closer to actual drug administration, appear to favor levosimendan,” said Dr Alexandre Mebazaa, professor and director, department of anesthesia and critical care medicine, Lariboisiere Hospital, Paris, and principal investigator in the trial.
At five days, two weeks, one month, and six months following the study drug infusion, mortality in the levosimendan group was reduced by 27%, 14%, 13%, and 6.4%, respectively, compared to the dobutamine group. These differences did not reach statistical significance.