SynthesisBMJ open2025
Clinical outcomes of levosimendan administration in veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation: a meta-analysis.
Synthesis in BMJ open, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Review
- Drug sequestration and metabolite formation: key pharmacokinetic challenges for levosimendan use during ECMO support in cardiogenic shock.Journal of intensive care · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo evaluate the effectiveness of levosimendan in promoting weaning from veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO) in patients with refractory cardiogenic shock through a meta-analysis of clinical trials.
designSystematic review and meta-analysis. DATA SOURCES: PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library and Web of Science were systematically searched from inception to January 2025. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: Studies were included if they were clinical trials comparing outcomes between patients receiving levosimendan and those not receiving it during VA-ECMO support. Eligible studies reported on at least one of the predefined outcomes. DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS: Two independent reviewers extracted data and assessed study quality. The primary outcome was successful VA-ECMO weaning. Secondary outcomes included 30-day mortality, in-hospital mortality, duration of ECMO support and length of stay in the intensive care unit (ICU). A random-effects model was used to synthesise data and estimate pooled effect sizes, with heterogeneity assessed using the I² statistic.
resultsInvolving 2083 patients across 16 studies, levosimendan significantly improved VA-ECMO weaning success (OR=2.44, 95% CI: 1.72 to 3.48; p<0.00001; I
conclusionsLevosimendan improves VA-ECMO weaning success and reduces mortality. Further high-quality randomised controlled trials (RCTs) are required to confirm its clinical benefits in VA-ECMO patients. While the findings consolidate existing evidence favouring levosimendan, they also highlight residual heterogeneity and moderate-to-high risk of bias in several included studies. Therefore, future investigations, particularly well-powered RCTs with robust methodology, may help further delineate its role in specific patient populations.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.