Changes in Cardiac Deformation Following Physiologic Alterations and Inotropic Support.

The investigators want to compare the effects of two drugs, levosimendan and milrinone, on cardiac muscle, both in terms of contractility and relaxation. Half of the participants will be randomized to each drug. The effects will be measured through echocardiographic deformation analyses. Since deformation analyses could be dependent on different loading conditions of the heart, a second purpose of the study is to investigate the changes on deformation parameters after applied changes in preload and afterload, but also heart rate.