Viagra, the top-selling drug that has helped millions of men renew their sex lives, may find new use as a stroke treatment.
Locked-in syndrome is a rare complication of stroke and brain injury that puzzles doctors.
Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit began a study this week using Viagra in the first three days after an ischemic stroke.
The study follows more than a decade of laboratory research at Ford using Pfizer Inc.'s Viagra.
Ford doctors also used Viagra successfully in a Michigan woman who developed severe complications from a stroke.
Rene Jarinski, 43, of Owosso was paralyzed with locked-in syndrome, a rare stroke complication, which developed after she gave herself an injection of migraine medicine on July 28, 2003.
After getting federal approval to use Viagra for a stroke -- through a program that allows nonstandard uses of a drug for compassionate purposes -- Ford doctors gave Jarinski gradual doses of the drug for several months.
Combined with gains from physical therapy, Jarinski has made a recovery that astonishes her doctor.
The Ford study is a so-called phase one study, the earliest stage of research, to determine whether the drug is safe.
In the next three months, 84 patients ages 18 to 80 with mild-to-moderate complications in the first three days of a stroke will be enrolled in the study.