Preoperative and perioperative use of levosimendan in cardiac surgery: European expert opinion

In cardiac surgery, postoperative low cardiac output has been shown to correlate with increased rates of organ failure and mortality. Catecholamines have been the standard therapy for many years, although they carry substantial risk for adverse cardiac and systemic effects, and have been reported to be associated with increased mortality. On the other hand, the calcium sensitiser and potassium channel opener levosimendan has been shown to improve cardiac function with no imbalance in oxygen consumption, and to have protective effects in other organs. Numerous clinical trials have indicated favourable cardiac and non-cardiac effects of preoperative and perioperative administration of levosimendan. A panel of 27 experts from 18 countries has now reviewed the literature on the use of levosimendan in on-pump and off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting and in heart valve surgery. This panel discussed the published evidence in these various settings, and agreed to vote on a set of questions related to the cardioprotective effects of levosimendan when administered preoperatively, with the purpose of reaching a consensus on which patients could benefit from the preoperative use of levosimendan and in which kind of procedures, and at which doses and timing should levosimendan be administered. Here, we present a systematic review of the literature to report on the completed and ongoing studies on levosimendan, including the newly commenced LEVO-CTS phase III study (NCT02025621), and on the consensus reached on the recommendations proposed for the use of preoperative levosimendan

Impacto de la anestesia libre de opioides en cirugía bariátrica.

Patients subjected to bariatric surgery present a greater risk of complications due to the use of opioids. The goal is to evaluate the security and suitability of the Opioid Free Anaesthesia (OFA) protocol implemented in the Hospital Universitario Virgen de la Victoria in 2018. Prospective study carried out on 38 patients subjected to laparoscopic bariatric surgery under the OFA protocol in the year 2018 at the H.U. Virgen de la Victoria (Málaga, Spain). Variables were gathered to establish haemodynamic control and perioperative pain, which were analysed using Stata v.16. The average age was 43 years, the average body mass index was 48.14 and the average stay in the operating theatre was 178 minutes. Control of hypertensive response following laryngoscopy occurred in 88.1% of the cases. On entering the Post Anaesthesia Care Unit (PACU), SpO2 without a supplementary contribution in the transfer showed a median of 97% with p75 = 95%, while the p75 of pain evaluation by means of Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) was 3, with 68% of patients without pain. On discharge from the PACU, all presented VAS below 4 and it was only necessary to administer a low dose of Pethidine in seven patients. The OFA has proved to be secure and achieves optimum pain control. In the reconverted cases, good control of the parameters opens up the possibility of its use in more painful surgeries

Laparotomía en un paciente bajo anestesia libre de opiáceos.

Obese patients subjected to bariatric surgery have a high probability of presenting complications that worsen with the use of opioids and can be reduced thanks to anaesthetic techniques like opioid-free anaesthetics (OFA). The risk of having to convert the laparoscopic surgical technique into open surgery is one of the criticisms aimed at this anaesthetic modality, facing the possibility of there not being a correct sympathetic or nociceptive control. We present the case of a patient scheduled for laparoscopic bariatric surgery who, while maintaining OFA, was converted to open surgery (exploratory laparoscopy), with correct control achieved of both haemodynamics and perioperative pain

Cardiac, renal, and neurological benefits of preoperative levosimendan administration in patients with right ventricular dysfunction and pulmonary hypertension undergoing cardiac surgery: evaluation with two biomarkers neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin and neuronal enolase

José Luis Guerrero-Orriach,1 Daniel Ariza-Villanueva,1 Ana Florez-Vela,1 Lourdes Garrido-Sánchez,2,3 María Isabel Moreno-Cortés,1 Manuel Galán-Ortega,1 Alicia Ramírez-Fernández,1 Juan Alcaide Torres,3 Concepción Santiago Fernandez,3 Isabel Navarro Arce,1 José María Melero-Tejedor,4 Manuel Rubio-Navarro,1 José Cruz-Mañas1 1Department of Cardio-Anaesthesiology, University Hospital Virgen de la Victoria, Málaga, Spain; 2CIBER Fisiología de la Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBEROBN), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Málaga, Spain; 3Department of Nutrition and Endocrinology, Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas de Málaga (IBIMA), University Hospital Virgen de la Victoria, Málaga, Spain; 4Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, University Hospital Virgen de la Victoria, Málaga, Spain Purpose: To evaluate if the preoperative administration of levosimendan in patients with right ventricular (RV) dysfunction, pulmonary hypertension, and high perioperative risk would improve cardiac function and would also have a protective effect on renal and neurological functions, assessed using two biomarkers neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (N-GAL) and neuronal enolase. Methods: This is an observational study. Twenty-seven high-risk cardiac patients with RV dysfunction and pulmonary hypertension, scheduled for cardiac valve surgery, were prospectively followed after preoperative administration of levosimendan. Levosimendan was administered preoperatively on the day before surgery. All patients were considered high risk of cardiac and perioperative renal complications. Cardiac function was assessed by echocardiography, renal function by urinary N-GAL levels, and the acute kidney injury scale. Neuronal damage was assessed by neuron-specific enolase levels. Results: After surgery, no significant variations were found in mean and SE levels of N-GAL (14.31 [28.34] ng/mL vs 13.41 [38.24] ng/mL), neuron-specific enolase (5.40 [0.41] ng/mL vs 4.32 [0.61] ng/mL), or mean ± SD creatinine (1.06±0.24 mg/dL vs 1.25±0.37 mg/dL at 48 hours). RV dilatation decreased from 4.23±0.7 mm to 3.45±0.6 mm and pulmonary artery pressure from 58±18 mmHg to 42±19 mmHg at 48 hours. Conclusion: Preoperative administration of levosimendan has shown a protective role against cardiac, renal, and neurological damage in patients with a high risk of multiple organ dysfunctions undergoing cardiac surgery. Keywords: levosimendan, preoperative, kidney, brain, acute renal failur

Preoperative and perioperative use of levosimendan in cardiac surgery: European expert opinion.

In cardiac surgery, postoperative low cardiac output has been shown to correlate with increased rates of organ failure and mortality. Catecholamines have been the standard therapy for many years, although they carry substantial risk for adverse cardiac and systemic effects, and have been reported to be associated with increased mortality. On the other hand, the calcium sensitiser and potassium channel opener levosimendan has been shown to improve cardiac function with no imbalance in oxygen consumption, and to have protective effects in other organs. Numerous clinical trials have indicated favourable cardiac and non-cardiac effects of preoperative and perioperative administration of levosimendan. A panel of 27 experts from 18 countries has now reviewed the literature on the use of levosimendan in on-pump and off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting and in heart valve surgery. This panel discussed the published evidence in these various settings, and agreed to vote on a set of questions related to the cardioprotective effects of levosimendan when administered preoperatively, with the purpose of reaching a consensus on which patients could benefit from the preoperative use of levosimendan and in which kind of procedures, and at which doses and timing should levosimendan be administered. Here, we present a systematic review of the literature to report on the completed and ongoing studies on levosimendan, including the newly commenced LEVO-CTS phase III study (NCT02025621), and on the consensus reached on the recommendations proposed for the use of preoperative levosimendan