Inotropic therapy is an infusion of medication that changes your heart’s calcium level, which helps make your heart muscle contract. The therapy can be used to slow your heart rate for better control of arrhythmias, or it can trigger stronger muscle contractions to relieve symptoms from conditions such as heart failure.
Our Advanced Heart Failure Program is one of the select programs that uses inotropic therapy as an in-home management for patients with end-stage heart failure. We also integrate our treatment with palliative care services to provide you with personalized pain management during treatment.
What to expect during inotropic therapy
Your doctor will provide you with any diet changes and exercise recommendations before you begin the therapy. When you start the therapy, you’ll be admitted to the hospital for observation. The medication will be delivered through an IV in your arm or hand. An infusion pump will provide the correct dosage at specific times.
When you return home, you will be monitored by a home health nurse, who will watch for symptoms and work with you to make dosage adjustments as needed.
Stop the infusion and call your doctor right away if you experience side effects such as:
- Irregular heartbeat
- Pain near the IV
- Fever over 101 degrees Fahrenheit
- Pump malfunction
Conditions
Advanced heart failure is a form of heart failure that has progressed to the most serious stage.
Cardiomyopathy is a disease that weakens or changes the structure of your heart muscle, which makes it difficult for your heart to fill with and pump blood.
Heart failure occurs when your heart doesn’t fill with enough blood or doesn’t pump enough blood throughout your body.
Tests
Cardiac catheterization
Cardiac catheterization is a minimally invasive way to diagnose and treat a variety of heart and vascular conditions by guiding thin, flexible tubes called catheters through blood vessels to problem areas.
Chest X-ray
Chest X-rays use a small dose of radiation to create pictures of the structures inside the chest, including the lungs, heart, and chest wall.
Electrocardiogram (ECG)
An electrocardiogram, also known as an ECG, measures the heart’s electrical activity.
Our providers
Location: Change location Enter your location
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Nana Afari-Armah, MD
Heart Failure And Transplantation Cardiology
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Danielle D Farley, AGACNP-BC
Transplant Surgery
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Erika D Feller, MD
Heart Failure And Transplantation Cardiology
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Thomas Marlon Fishbein, MD
Liver Transplant Surgery, Hepatobiliary And Pancreatic Surgery & Transplant Surgery
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Richa Gupta, MD, MPH
Heart Failure And Transplantation Cardiology
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Sandeep M Jani, MD
Heart Failure And Transplantation Cardiology
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Megan Victoria Emily Johnson, PA-C
Transplant Surgery
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Rania Kaoukis, MD
Heart Failure And Transplantation Cardiology
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Phillip Hong Lam, MD
Heart Failure And Transplantation Cardiology
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Samer Samir Najjar, MD
Heart Failure And Transplantation Cardiology
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Miguel A Pinilla Vera, MD
Heart Failure And Transplantation Cardiology
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Maria Esperanza Rodrigo, MBBS
Heart Failure And Transplantation Cardiology
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Melissa Jeanne Scalchunes, AGACNP
Cardiology & Heart Failure And Transplantation Cardiology
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Farooq H. Sheikh, MD
Heart Failure And Transplantation Cardiology
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Tania A. Vora, MD
Heart Failure And Transplantation Cardiology
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Karenna Simone Williamson, AGACNP-BC
Transplant Surgery
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Our locations
Distance from Change locationEnter your location
MedStar Union Memorial Hospital
201 E. University Pkwy. Baltimore, MD 21218
MedStar Good Samaritan Hospital
5601 Loch Raven Blvd. Baltimore, MD 21239
MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center
9000 Franklin Square Dr. Baltimore, MD 21237
MedStar Harbor Hospital
3001 S. Hanover St. Baltimore, MD 21225
MedStar Washington Hospital Center
110 Irving St. NW Washington, DC 20010
Related services
Ask MedStar Heart & Vascular Institute
Have general questions for our heart and vascular program? Email us at AskMHVI@medstar.net. If you have clinically-specific questions, please contact your physician’s office.