Levodopa in severe congestive heart failure

ABSTRACT

The administration of dopamine results in substantial improvement in the performance of the failing heart, and oral formulation of this drug would, therefore, be desirable [1]. Levodopa is converted to dopamine after oral ingestion by the action of aromatic amino acid, decarboxylase in the liver and other tissues [2]. Rajfer [4] recently demonstrated that long-term failure is associated with sustained hemodynamic improvement. We report a case of the use of Levodopa in a patient with severe heart failure and cardiogenic shock who become dependent on intravenous positive inotropic agents