Heart drug could treat respiratory failure

Laboratory scientists have discovered that a drug used to treat acute heart failure may be a possible treatment for patients facing respiratory failure too.

According to findings published in the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the calcium-sensitising drug levosimendan could be effective in improving muscle function in patients with respiratory muscle weakness.

Dr Leo Heunks, a pulmonary and critical care physician at Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre in the Netherlands, explained that levosimendan improved the efficiency of the diaphragm, which suggests it may improve muscle function in those with respiratory failure.

The drugs are effective because muscles need calcium in order to contract and calcium sensitisers improve the muscles' ability to contract.

"Respiratory muscle weakness frequently occurs in patients with chronic diseases, and also in critically ill patients on the ventilator, making breathing more difficult and causing more severe illness and even death," Dr Heunks explained.

"To date, there is no specific drug treatment available to improve respiratory muscle function in patients with respiratory muscle failure."