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Author: Admin | 2025-04-28
What are inotropic drugs?Inotropes are drugs that tell your heart muscles to beat or contract with more power or less power, depending on whether it’s a positive or negative inotrope.Positive inotropes can help when your heart can’t get enough blood to your body because it is too weak to pump the amount of blood your body needs. Positive inotropes make your heart muscle contractions stronger, raising your cardiac output to a normal level and increasing the amount of blood your heart can pump out. This helps your organs get the blood and oxygen they need to keep working.Negative inotropes keep your heart muscles from working too hard by beating with less force. This is helpful when you have high blood pressure, chest pain, an abnormal heart rhythm or a disease like hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.Inotropic drug listPositive inotropic agents include:Epinephrine (Adrenalin® or Auvi-Q®).Norepinephrine (Levophed® or Levarterenol®).Dopamine.Dobutamine.Levosimendan.Milrinone.Digoxin (Cardoxin® or Lanoxin®).Amrinone.Enoximone.Negative inotropic agents include:Flecainide.Verapamil (Calan® or Verelan®).Cibenzoline.Clonidine (Catapres® or Kapvay®).Atenolol.Disopyramide.Sunitinib.Itraconazole (Onmel® or Sporanox®).How inotropes workInotropes act on your cardiomyocytes, the cells in your heart muscle. Positive inotropic drugs help your heart beat with more force. Negative inotropic drugs tell your heart muscles to contract with less force.Who needs to have inotropes?Most people who get positive inotropes are critically ill with congestive heart failure and are in the intensive care unit (ICU) of a hospital. They receive inotropic therapy through an IV (through the vein) tube in a large central vein. If you’re receiving inotropes, your provider will keep checking your heart rhythm, vital signs and fluid levels. Some people with end-stage heart failure may go home with IV inotropes.People who get negative inotropes usually aren’t dealing with life-threatening situations. They may take their medicine on a regular basis to keep their blood pressure normal, for example.Why are inotropes used?Positive inotropes help make your heart muscle contractions more powerful so your heart can get blood to your vital organs. Providers often order the smallest dose of inotropes that works for the shortest time, but they can also prescribe them for longer.Positive inotropes may be used along with vasopressors. If your provider is treating you for shock, for example, they may start with a vasopressor to constrict your blood vessels and raise your blood pressure. Then, they may also give you an inotropic agent to help your heartbeat with more strength.Negative inotropes can help you keep your blood pressure in a normal range and keep chest
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