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Published on: February 10, 2013
Dobutamine potentiates the peripheral chemoreflex in patients with congestive heart failure
Sonia Velez-Roa1, Philippe van de Borne, Virend K Somers
1Department of Cardiology, Erasme Hospital, 808 Lennik Road, 1070 Brussels, Belgium.
Background:
beta-Adrenergic agonists may increase chemoreflex sensitivity to hypoxia in normal humans. Chemoreflex function is important in the pathophysiology of heart failure. Whether the beta-1 agonist dobutamine, which is frequently administered to patients with heart failure, alters their chemoreflex sensitivity is not known.
Methods:
We tested the hypothesis that dobutamine increases chemoreflex sensitivity in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) using a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled study design. We assessed the influence of dobutamine on minute ventilation and hemodynamics during normoxic breathing and during peripheral chemoreflex deactivation by hyperoxia (100% O(2)) in 9 patients with CHF.
Results:
Dobutamine increased minute ventilation in patients with CHF (9.4+/-0.9 versus 8.4+/-0.7 L/min, P=.005) during normoxia. Peripheral chemoreflex deactivation by hyperoxia suppressed the ventilatory effects of dobutamine (10.4+/-1.4 L/min for dobutamine versus 10.0+/-1.2 L/min for placebo, P=.34).
Conclusions:
Dobutamine increases ventilation during normoxia, but not during hyperoxia in patients with CHF. We conclude that dobutamine enhances peripheral chemoreflex sensitivity in patients with congestive heart failure.
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