We compared the hemodynamic effects of dobutamine and enoximone administration before and after long-term beta-blocker therapy with metoprolol or carvedilol in patients with chronic heart failure (HF).

Patients with HF on beta-blocker therapy may need hemodynamic support with inotropic agents, and the hemodynamic response may be influenced by both the inotropic agent and the beta-blocker used.

The hemodynamic effects of dobutamine (5 to 20 μg/kg/min intravenously) and enoximone (0.5 to 2 mg/kg intravenously) were assessed by pulmonary artery catheterization in 29 patients with chronic HF before and after 9 to 12 months of treatment with metoprolol or carvedilol at standard target maintenance oral doses. Hemodynamic studies were performed after ≥12 h of wash-out from all cardiovascular medications, except the beta-blockers that were administered 3 h before the second study.

Compared with before beta-blocker therapy, metoprolol treatment decreased the magnitude of mean pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) and pulmonary wedge pressure (PWP) decline during dobutamine infusion and increased the cardiac index (CI) and stroke volume index (SVI) response to enoximone administration, without any effect on other hemodynamic parameters. Carvedilol treatment abolished the increase in heart rate, SVI, and CI and caused a rise, rather than a decline, in PAP, PWP, systemic vascular resistance, and pulmonary vascular resistance during dobutamine infusion. The hemodynamic response to enoximone, however, was maintained or enhanced in the presence of carvedilol.

In contrast with its effects on enoximone, carvedilol and, to a lesser extent, metoprolol treatment may significantly inhibit the favorable hemodynamic response to dobutamine. No such beta-blocker–related attenuation of hemodynamic effects occurs with enoximone.