News - Hypertension Week of April 13, 2003/ Vol. 2 No. 15

Study: Oral Doses of Viagra Effective in Pulmonary Hypertension

Oral doses of Viagra (sildenafil) are effective in widening blood vessels and could become a new treatment for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension.

A German research team studied 12 patients suffering from severe pulmonary hypertension and found that long-term treatment with Viagra improved the patients capacity to exercise and their cardiovascular blood flow.

The researchers found improvement among the patients receiving Viagra in pulmonary artery pressure, pulmonary vascular resistance, central venous pressure and six-minute walk distance.

Before the trial began, all of the patients had complained of deterioration in their clinical status despite the use of controlled long-term anticoagulation therapy.

The patients also had risk factors predictive of poor survival and rapid disease progression. None of the patients taking Viagra reported serious side effects.

The study was reported in the April issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

Other sources: American Thoracic Society