Another treatment involves continuous inhalation of a gas (nitric oxide) that also widens blood vessels in the lungs. A newer approach has been an inhaled mist form of epoprostenol called iloprost. Because each mist treatment lasts only about 60 minutes, up to 12 treatments each day are required. Each of these treatments has its drawbacks and side effects. You cant take these orally, and have shorter duration of action. Recently, researchers learned that a drug Viagra (sildenafil citrate) the erectile-dysfunction drug used by more than 26 million men worldwide,can enhance and prolong the actions of both iloprost and nitric oxide.
Viagra’s Active Ingredient Treats Pulmonary Hypertension
New drug Revatio, which contains sildenafil citrate, the same active ingredient found in the erectile-dysfunction drug Viagra, has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treating pulmonary hypertension. Revatio is white and round; Viagra is a blue diamond.Will the drug work long-term? “Only time will tell,” says Norman Edelman, medical director of the American Lung Association. “Anything that lowers blood pressure in the lungs and can do it over time will probably prolong life.”
Good thing about this drug “it can be given orally, rather than intravenously or in an injection.” The only other drug that can be given orally, Bosentan, can damage the liver.
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