Levosimendan – a valuable player in the treatment of a right-sided heart failure.

A 66 year-old obese man, suffering from type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, chronic nephropathy in stage 4, permanent atrial fibrillation accompanied by bradycardia was admitted to a cardiology ward with the signs and symptoms of acute right-sided heart failure. A standard therapy was used including combined diuretics therapy. In spite of the applied methods and pharmaceuticals, no significant reduction of the body weight neither improvement in cardiovascular capacity or renal parameters were observed. Due to the ineffectiveness of the standard combined pharmacotherapy applied in the case of the acute circulatory failure, the resistance to diuretics was recognized and as a result of the above, infusion of levosimendan was decided to be applied. This therapy resulted in rich diuresis, significant loss in body weight and considerable improvement in cardiovascular capacity which allowed to continue further diagnostics and appropriate invasive treatment. The article describes current knowledge on the place of levosimendan and its application in the treatment of an right-sided heart failure.