Viagra could greatly improve the quality of life for these people

Research done at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia shows that individuals suffering from single-ventricle congenital heart disease can receive substantial improvements in their condition if they use the impotence drug Viagra. Single-ventricle heart defects are cardiac malformations which prevent the heart from pumping blood properly. Examples of these types of heart defects are hypoplastic left heart syndrome, tricuspid atresia and pulmonary atresia or /intact ventricular septum.

The active ingredient of Viagra, Sildenafil is already used to help men and women who suffer from pulmonary arterial hypertension but this new study looked at whether the drug could help for a whole list of other heart conditions and the researchers believe that it could improve cardiac performance by improving the amount of blood flowing into the heart and by boosting its squeezing ability.

For this study 28 young adults and children who had previously undergone surgery called the Fontan operation which redirects blood directly into the pulmonary arteries thus bypassing the heart were selected. The patients were given either the real Viagra drug or a placebo three times daily for a six week period.  The patients were then not given medication for six weeks and then the placebo and Viagra were reversed for them. The results show that there was a statistically significant improvement in the performance of the heart when Viagra was administered compared to the placebo drug.

Professor David J. Goldberg at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia who led the study explained that Viagra could greatly improve the quality of life for these people.  The study was announced to the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions taking place in Florida, USA. 

From the huge amount of research done with the Viagra drug it seems that it has many applications for men and women who suffer from heart problems. In one study which we wrote about a couple of years back at Ukmedix News it was seen that dogs could be saved from heart attacks if they were administered Viagra at right time. More research needs to be done with Viagra and its ability to improve heart function.