Viagra for the Lungs
NYT: Viagra Gains Some Advocates as Treatment for Lung Disease [RSS]
The drug is Viagra. Wisecracks aside, the blue pill that treats erectile dysfunction, a common but less than fatal male malady, may have a new role in treating pulmonary hypertension, a rare but deadly disease that afflicts mainly women.
Results of a clinical trial in India, published this week in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology, showed that Viagra increased the ability of patients to exercise by about 40 percent. The authors said that was greater than the effect seen with other drugs in different trials. Although the trial involved only 22 patients, it was the first randomized test to compare Viagra against a placebo for pulmonary hypertension, the journal said.
Obviously, good news. One wonders what happenstance triggered this study, though.
It makes me wonder how they operationalize the term “exercise.”
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