Effect of milrinone versus levosimendan on mortality in patients with complex congenital heart disease: a systematic review
Keywords:
congenital heart disease, mortality, levosimendan, milrinoneAbstract
Introduction: Patients with complex congenital heart disease undergoing surgery are at high risk of complications and mortality, especially in pediatric patients. However, there is no international consensus on the postoperative management of these patients, especially with regard to inotropes.
Objective: To compare the effect of milrinone and levosimendan on postoperative mortality in pediatric patients.
Methods: The articles for the development of this review were chosen based on eligibility criteria, and the Mantel-Haenszel formula was used to calculate the results.
Results: A combined odds ratio was obtained: 1.500, a 95% confidence interval (0.2400, 9.4600), with a p-value of 0.6662.
Conclusions: There are no statistically significant differences in the mortality effect of milrinone versus levosimendan in the postoperative period for complex congenital heart disease in pediatric patients.
Downloads
References
1. Dotson A, Covas T, Halstater B, et al. Congenital Heart Disease. Prim Care [Internet]. 2024 [citado 15/04/2025];51(1):125-42. Disponible en: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38278566/
2. Roeschl T, Hinrichs N, Hommel M, et al. Systematic Assessment of Shock Severity in Postoperative Cardiac Surgery Patients. J Am Coll Cardiol [Internet]. 2023 [citado 15/04/2025];82(17):1691-706. Disponible en: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37852698/
3. Buckley JJ, Jackson JA. Postoperative Cardiac Arrhythmias. Anesthesiology [Internet]. 1961 [citado 15/04/2025];22:723-37. Disponible en: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/13874320/
4. Sahu MK, Das A, Siddharth B, et al. Arrhythmias in Children in Early Postoperative Period After Cardiac Surgery. World J Pediatr Congenit Heart Surg [Internet]. 2018 [citado 15/04/2025];9(1):38-46. Disponible en: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29310559/
5. Jothinath K, Balakrishnan S, Raju V, et al. Clinical efficacy of levosimendan vs milrinone in preventing low cardiac output syndrome following pediatric cardiac surgery. Ann Card Anaesth [Internet]. 2021 [citado 15/04/2025];24(2):217-23. Disponible en: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33884979/
6. Lomivorotov VV, Efremov SM, Kirov MY, et al. Low-Cardiac-Output Syndrome After Cardiac Surgery. J Cardiothorac Vasc Anesth [Internet]. 2017 [citado 15/04/2025];31:291-308. Disponible en: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27671216/
7. Beiras-Fernandez A, Kornberger A, Oberhoffer M, et al. Levosimendan as rescue therapy in low output syndrome after cardiac surgery: effects and predictors of outcome. J Int Med Res [Internet]. 2019 [citado 15/04/2025];47(8):3502-12. Disponible en: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30909776/
8. Ball L, Costantino F, Pelosi P. Postoperative complications of patients undergoing cardiac surgery. Curr Opin Crit Care [Internet]. 2016 [citado 15/04/2025];22(4):386-92. Disponible en: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27309972/
9. Burkhardt BE, Hummel J, Rücker G, et al. Inotropes for the prevention of low cardiac output syndrome and mortality for paediatric patients undergoing surgery for congenital heart disease: a network meta-analysis. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2024;11(11):CD013707. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD013707.pub2.
10. King CE, Thompson EJ, Foote HP, et al. An evidence-based review of the use of vasoactive and inotropic medications in post-operative paediatric patients after cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass from 2000 to 2020. Cardiol Young [Internet]. 2020 [citado 15/04/2025];30(12):1757-71. Disponible en: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33213604/
11. Vogt A, Meyer S, Schäfers HJ, et al. Standardized Treatment and Diagnostic Approach to Reduce Disease burden in the early postoperative phase in children with congenital heart defects—STANDARD study: a pilot randomized controlled trial. Eur J Pediatr [Internet]. 2023 [citado 15/04/2025];182(12):5325-40. Disponible en: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37733115/
12. Pérez Navero JL. Inotrópicos en postoperatorio de cardiopatías congénitas. Rev Esp Pediatr [Internet]. 2017 [citado 15/04/2025];73(Supl 1):44-8. Disponible en: https://secip.com/images/uploads/2018/04/5-inotropicos-versus-vasoconstrictores-en-el-manejor-postoperatorio-cardiaco.pdf
13. Silvetti S, Belletti A, Bianzina S, et al. Effect of Levosimendan Treatment in Pediatric Patients With Cardiac Dysfunction: An Update of a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. J Cardiothorac Vasc Anesth [Internet]. 2022 [citado 15/04/2025];36(3):657-64. Disponible en: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34656399/
14. Shahin J, deVarennes B, Tse CW, et al. The relationship between inotrope exposure, six-hour postoperative physiological variables, hospital mortality and renal dysfunction in patients undergoing cardiac surgery. Crit Care [Internet]. 2011 [citado 15/04/2025];15(4):R162. Disponible en: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21736726/
15. Joshi RK, Joshi R, Aggarwal N, et al. Comparison of Levosimendan Versus Milrinone After the Arterial Switch Operation for Infants ≤3 kg. World J Pediatr Congenit Heart Surg [Internet]. 2024 [citado 15/04/2025];15(5):588-96. Disponible en: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38766718/
16. Capecci L, Mainwaring RD, Collins RT, et al. The number of postoperative surgical or diagnostic procedures following congenital heart surgery correlates with both mortality and hospital length of stay. J Card Surg [Internet]. 2022 [citado 15/04/2025];37(10):3028-35. Disponible en: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35917407/
17. Ghasemi Shayan R, Fatollahzadeh Dizaji M, Sajjadian F. Surgical and postoperative management of congenital heart disease: a systematic review of observational studies. Langenbecks Arch Surg [Internet]. 2025 [citado 15/04/2025];410(1):113. Disponible en: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40164780/
18. Tang X, Liu P, Li R, et al. Milrinone for the Treatment of Acute Heart Failure After Acute Myocardial Infarction: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis. Basic Clin Pharmacol Toxicol [Internet]. 2015 [citado 15/04/2025];117(3):186-94. Disponible en: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25625413/
19. Papp Z, Agostoni P, Alvarez J, et al. Levosimendan Efficacy and Safety: 20 years of SIMDAX in Clinical Use. Card Fail Rev [Internet]. 2020 [citado 15/04/2025];6:e19. Disponible en: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32714567/
20. Quintero-Altare A, Flórez-Navas C, Robayo-Amortegui H, et al. Boosting the Beat: A Critical Showdown of Levosimendan and Milrinone in Surgical and Non-Surgical Scenarios: A Narrative Review. J Cardiovasc Pharmacol Ther [Internet]. 2024 [citado 15/04/2025];29:10742484241276431. Disponible en: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39246279/
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Angie Castro-Vera, Sandy Drouet-de- la-Rosa, Selena Cuvi-Quiroz

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
All content published in this journal is Open Access, distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC 4.0 License.
It allows:
- Copy and redistribute published material in any medium or format.
- Adapt the content.
This will be done under the following terms:
- Attribute the authors' credits and indicate whether changes were made, in which case it must be in a reasonable way.
- Non-commercial use.
- Recognize the journal where it is published.
The copyrights of each article are maintained, without restrictions.

