[Levosimendan reduces mortality in cardiac surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis]

To evaluate whether Levosimendan has any impact on peri-operative mortality in cardiac surgery.

A literature search was performed with the main purpose of looking for mortality in cardiac surgery. Data tabulated by both the fixed effects model and the random effects model were analysed based on the method by Peto. The statistical heterogeneity and inconsistency was estimated and quantified, as well as performing a sensitivity analysis to test the influence of individual studies on the overall result. All the calculations and statistical analyses were performed using the software; "Comprehensive Meta-Analysis" V2.0 and "StatsDirect statistical software" V 2.7.8. At the same time, possible publication bias was also determined.

A total of 169 articles were found, from which 13 studies were finally included in the meta-analysis; 12 randomised and one of them retrospective with paired data. The global analysis showed that the use of levosimendan was associated with a significant reduction in postoperative mortality.

The meta-analysis showed that the use of Levosimendan was associated with a reduction in mortality in patients subjected to cardiac surgery, although there is still no definitively clear evidence. Additional randomised and multicentre clinical studies, with a much larger number of patients are required, in which hospital mortality and mortality at 6 months are analysed as the primary outcomes.