[Efficacy and safety of amrinone in the treatment of heart insufficiency in intensive care].

The authors describe the results obtained treating with amrinone for 48 hours 11 patients with acute heart failure. The patients (4 males and 7 females), age range between 50 and 82 years) received an initial bolus of 0.75 mg/kg followed by and infusion which on average was of 5.82 +/- 1.06 (SD) micrograms/kg/min. Besides a subjective and objective clinical improvement they could observe a quick and remarkable improvement of the main hemodynamic parameters (cardiac index, cardiac output, pulmonary capillary wedge pressure, mean pulmonary pressure). The tolerability of the drug was good, except for a decrease in platelet, already described in literature. In conclusion, the Authors consider amrinone a very interesting drug for its positive inotropic and vasodilating activity and because it does not cause an increase of the myocardial oxygen consumption.