Doctors find hard evidence that Viagra helps children with certain heart conditions:
Viagra as an Erectile Dysfunction cure was discovered by accident. The ideas for treatments that Viagra is now being prescribed for are also outside of the intended box. Doctors are prescribing Viagra to a small test group of children with a fatal, lung-heart condition. The drug, normally prescribed to men for middle-aged male impotency, helps children with pulmonary arterial hypertension to breathe more easily by expanding blood vessels in the heart and lungs.
Evidently, some 4,000 Britons suffer from the incurable condition, including 320 children, and doctors have started controlled trials of the drug.
In a year-long Canadian study, Viagra was given four times a day to 14 children with the condition. The average dose was 40mg, double that taken by impotent men.
Before treatment, the children could walk an average of 324 metres in six minutes. After one year of treatment, they could walk a further 154 metres in the same time and blood flow increased by 20 per cent. Patients were given a 37 per cent chance of surviving a year, but at the end of the trial all 14 were still alive.
Iain Armstrong, the chairman for the Pulmonary Hypertension Association, said: "Physicians discovered that the receptors in the lungs are similar to the receptors in the penis. So they thought if it [Viagra] can work for erectile dysfunction it should work for pulmonary hypertension. The results are encouraging."
Dr Joanna Pepke-Zaba, the director of the Pulmonary Vascular Disease Unit at Papworth Hospital in Cambridgeshire, said: "We have tracked adverse reactions such as the possibility of boys having erections and being put in an embarrassing situation. It has only happened once in a boy". However, she went on to say there was no hard evidence to suggest it was due to the Viagra.
Fran Georgel, 43, from Buckingham, Kent, whose nine-year-old son Robbie has been taking a drug similar to Viagra for five years, said "Once Viagra is confirmed safe, it should definitely be licensed."
Pfizer, the manufacturer of Viagra, intends to seek a licence for the drug as a treatment for pulmonary hypertension when the trials are complete.
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Evidently, some 4,000 Britons suffer from the incurable condition, including 320 children, and doctors have started controlled trials of the drug.
In a year-long Canadian study, Viagra was given four times a day to 14 children with the condition. The average dose was 40mg, double that taken by impotent men.
Before treatment, the children could walk an average of 324 metres in six minutes. After one year of treatment, they could walk a further 154 metres in the same time and blood flow increased by 20 per cent. Patients were given a 37 per cent chance of surviving a year, but at the end of the trial all 14 were still alive.
Iain Armstrong, the chairman for the Pulmonary Hypertension Association, said: "Physicians discovered that the receptors in the lungs are similar to the receptors in the penis. So they thought if it [Viagra] can work for erectile dysfunction it should work for pulmonary hypertension. The results are encouraging."
Dr Joanna Pepke-Zaba, the director of the Pulmonary Vascular Disease Unit at Papworth Hospital in Cambridgeshire, said: "We have tracked adverse reactions such as the possibility of boys having erections and being put in an embarrassing situation. It has only happened once in a boy". However, she went on to say there was no hard evidence to suggest it was due to the Viagra.
Fran Georgel, 43, from Buckingham, Kent, whose nine-year-old son Robbie has been taking a drug similar to Viagra for five years, said "Once Viagra is confirmed safe, it should definitely be licensed."
Pfizer, the manufacturer of Viagra, intends to seek a licence for the drug as a treatment for pulmonary hypertension when the trials are complete.
Please click to find out more pharmacy news at the Pharmacy Shark Patrol Archives.
To learn more about dysfunction erectile please click on link to visit.
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