Viagra eases lung pressure in patients

From San Diego, at a meeting of the American Society of Hematology

Roughly one-third of adults with sickle-cell disease develop increased blood pressure in the lungs. This debilitating condition, called pulmonary hypertension, constricts lung arteries. The backpressure that results can lead to heart failure.

A preliminary study of sickle-cell patients with pulmonary hypertension suggests that they can benefit from sildenafil, a blood vessel dilator marketed as the impotence drug Viagra by the New York–based drug company Pfizer.