Aiding Kids with rare blood pressure problem

Current research being conducted relating to a rare disorder children develop referred to as pulmonary arterial hypertension, is keying in on an unlikely source for possible help.

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Sildenafil is a drug most commonly now known as a pharmaceutical that aids in erectile dysfunction in men. Howe­ver, the key ingredient was originally utilized to treat heart disease and now may also help children with pulmonary arterial hypertension.

In fact, Sildenafil has actually already been approved to treat this blood pressure issue in adults, although it is noted to be expensive to take as well as possess side effects. Although not currently approved and backed up by the FDA, or Food and Drug Administration. Medical professionals, such as Dr. Thomas Kulk, head of cardiology at prominent Children's Boston Hospital, confirms that the drug is indeed used to help treat pulmonary arterial hypertension in children.

A little background on pulmonary arterial hypertension is relevant. This disorder effects blood pressure, increasing it to high levels within the arteries that lead to the lungs. As far as how it spreads, many cases can be caused by inheritance from family, be linked with some types of heart disease, or just appear for no reason known to the medical community at this time. The disease can inhibit the individual in everyday life, making it hard to exercise or be active, and can even result in heart failure or death.

Slidenafil, which is the active ingredient in the popular drug, has been studied in adults with pulmonary arterial hypertension and has gotten good results. It has been proven to help with oxygen delivery to the lungs as well as the duration that exercise is able to performed. It is not yet discovered or revealed whether or not the drug will help to endure the life span as well, says Kulk who also teaches at Harvard Medical School.

In a new study currently underway, the drug slidenafil was given to children aged one to seventeen for a period of sixteen weeks. The doses are variable from low to medium to high as well as including a placebo, which is a control where no medication is given to those select patients. After this time period, one hundred and five of the participants were tested.

In a previous study involving the active drug in Cialis, tadalafil, was also shown to have effective results in adults with pulmonary arterial hy­pertension.

With that said, the new study focusing on children is demonstrating positive results. Children who took the drug and resumed in exercise function had more lung improvement than those children who had been given the placebo. The researchers involved included two individuals from Pfizer, the manufacturers of the drug Viagra. They also noted that the children were able to have increased exercise duration after being given the drug.

The study is scheduled was released at the end of October 2011 at the American College Of Chest Physicians. Any research presented in this form of meeting is referred to as preliminary until it is published in a peer-reviewed journal.

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