Viagra May help children with PAH (pulmonary arterial hypertension)
The pulmonary arteries are the major blood vessels that carry blood from the right side of the heart to the lungs. Pulmonary hypertension is a result of stiffening or constriction of the arteries supplying blood to the lungs. This makes it difficult for the heart to pump blood through the lungs. This pressure on the heart enlarges the right side of the heart and eventually the fluid builds up in the liver and other tissues. When pressure in the pulmonary circulation becomes increasingly high, it is called pulmonary artery hypertension, or PAH. Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is constant high blood pressure in the pulmonary artery. The usual blood pressure in a normal pulmonary artery is about 14 mmHg when the person is resting. In PAH, the average is usually greater than 25 mmHg.
Research shows that the active composition of Viagra which is also called Sildenafil is proven to help children with PAH to walk better and breathe more easily when taken over a year. Viagra was first approved by the United States FDA in 1998. Over 130 clinical trials were done to test the safety of the drug. Physicians worldwide have found that the drug Sildenafil may help children suffering from pulmonary arterial hypertension. This research is reported in the June 14, 2005 issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. Viagra relaxes the smooth muscle that lines blood vessels, so it is able to treat PAH. PAH is a serious ailment for which there are treatments but no cure and the treatment benefits many patients.
How does Viagra help children suffering from PAH
Viagra has been proven to improve peak oxygen consumption in children who suffer from Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension. Taking Viagra has improved the lives of thousands of kids worldwide who would not be living normally otherwise.
Viagra is generally used to treat impotence or erectile disorder in males. The drug is known to relax and smooth the blood vessels and expands the blood vessels increasing blood flow. The same effects helps children with pulmonary arterial hypertension since expanding and relaxing the blood vessels would prevent small blood vessels from getting blocked and it improved the symptoms too.
For testing, researchers gave various doses of Viagra to children between the ages of 5-18 years of age for one year. The average distance a kid amongst them walked in six minutes increased by 154 meters. Six minutes is a measure that correlates with the prognosis of PAH. This was a significant increase compared to other PAH medications, Adatia said. The resistance in the arteries also came down by 20 percent making breathing much easier for the children.
The drug is easy to take and the side effects are minimal. There was no change found in the liver and kidney function also like the effects of other drugs. However, similar patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension did poorly, with a survival rate of about 37 percent at one year. In contrast, this study of Sildenafil or Viagra “not only had 100 percent survival at one year, but improved exercise capacity,” Adatia said.
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Filed under: Health Conditions by admin on Thu, July 15th, 2010
July 15, 2010