Originally published June 19 2005
Viagra may treat lethal lung condition in children
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Viagra, the popular erectile dysfunction drug, has been found successful in treating children with pulmonary arterial hypertension, a disease which usually kills its victims within a year of diagnosis.
Viagra may come to the rescue of children with a rare and deadly lung condition, Canadian researchers report.
There are drugs that can prolong their lives, but they appear to be of limited benefit.
However, 14 boys and girls aged 5 to 18 were still alive one year after beginning treatment with the erectile dysfunction drug, according to a report in the June 14 issue of Circulation.
Viagra was also easier to use than existing therapies and caused minimal side effects.
Five of the children did die during the second year of treatment, noted Dr. Tilman Humpl, director of the Childhood Pulmonary Hypertension Clinic at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.
It's too early to tell exactly what role Viagra will play in treatment of the lung disease, Humpl said, because the number of children in the study was small and the trial did not include a control group, a standard requirement for judging the effectiveness of any treatment.
Pulmonary arterial hypertension can be inherited, caused by a congenital heart defect or chronic disease of the heart or lung.
Blood pressure in the lung arteries rises, causing a further narrowing of blood vessels, which pushes blood pressure even higher.
The result is fatigue, dizziness, shortness of breath and eventually heart failure.
Viagra was tried as a treatment for the condition because it relaxes the smooth muscle of blood vessels, letting them expand to increase blood flow.
The treatment was initiated in Toronto by Dr. Ian Adatia, then director of the hospital's childhood hypertension clinic.
Other drugs used to treat the condition act through nitric oxide.
Because of its effect on blood vessels in the penis, "it was not a huge leap to think of it acting in the lung," Adatia said.
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