Viagra, the diamond-shaped blue pill commonly used to treat erectile dysfunction (ED), can also help improve health condition of heart patients, new research shows.
The Pfizer and other ED drugs work by blocking PDE5, an enzyme, which prevents relaxation of smooth muscle tissue. An ingredient in these drugs named phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor (PDE5i) mainly helps in this aspect.
The Roman study looked at 1,622 heart patients from 24 trials, published between 2004 and 2014. During the study, the participants received either a PDE5i or placebo-based treatment.
At the end of the study, heart patients, who received the PDE5i treatment, showed remarkable improvements.
Patients with left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), a heart condition that leads to the thickening of muscles in the left ventricle, benefitted the most. The inhibitor treatment protected the heart from increasing in size and changing in shape. The treatment also had a similar positive impact on people with other heart conditions. The whole treatment was also safe, and did not involve any major side-effects.
Encouraged by the study findings, researchers from the Sapienza University of Rome recommended using the drug for treating LVH and early-stage heart failure in men.
Heart failure is a condition when the heart fails to pump enough blood needed for the proper function of the body. Nearly 23 million people in the world are estimated to have this deadly heart condition.
"We found that the main ingredient in Viagra can be used as an effective, safe treatment for several patients with heart disease. Large clinical trials are now urgently needed to build on these encouraging findings," lead author of the study, Andrea Isidori, said in a news release.
The study has been published in BMC Medicine.
Though the findings are quite promising, according to the American Heart Association, mixing Viagra with drugs used to manage chest pain found in coronary artery disease, is not a good idea. They said that the combination could lead to dangerous reactions, including a considerable decline in blood pressure.
The nitrates for chest pain should be taken only after a 24 hours gap of using the erectile dysfunction drugs like Viagra and Levitra; and 48 hours after using Cialis, they said.
