Adrenergic drugs: dobutamine: practice question

The best answer is B, Dobutamine. Dobutamine is a relatively selective beta1 agonist that increases contractility and cardiac output with only mild vasodilatation, so it suits low-output heart failure with preserved blood pressure.

Clonidine is a central alpha2 agonist used to lower pressure, with no inotropic effect.

Propranolol has negative inotropic action and can precipitate worsening acute failure.

Phenylephrine is a pure alpha1 agonist; it raises afterload and can further reduce cardiac output.

It tests Adrenergic drugs: dobutamine in Pharmacology. Raising afterload with a pure vasoconstrictor worsens pump failure, and beta-blockers are avoided while the patient is decompensated.

We tag it as a multi-step question: it asks you to combine more than one idea. The tag is our own editorial judgement, not an official difficulty rating, so read the reason for every option, not only the answer.

Learn drugs as classes, then the exception in each class that an examiner would pick. Then use the flashcards and the other Pharmacology questions on this site to test what stuck.

No. It is an original practice item (editorial status: sample, version 1). NextPrep does not publish recalled or leaked questions, and independent faculty review of this item has not been completed yet, so confirm important facts in a standard textbook.