[first - 15] bt/weekend/pages<btl-015> . 23/03/13

health | l15
Viagra works for the heart too
It is one of the erectile dysfunction drugs that are used to treat right-heart hypertension. By Michael Lim
WHILEmostofusare
familiar with the kindof high blood pres-sure (hypertension)that imposes stress on the left heart chambers, there is anoth-er kind of hypertension which involves on-ly the right heart chambers, termed pul-monary arterial hypertension or PAH.
vere lung disease (often related to smok-ing), but may sometimes exist without anyunderlying disease.
Blue in the face
Last week, as Mr A, who is in his late 50s,
walked into my clinic, he looked blue in
the face. A smoker with chronic lung dis-
ease, he was huffing with the effort.
sulted in constriction of the vessels in hislungs, thereby increasing the resistance tothe flow of blood being pumped from theright side of the heart through the lung ar-tery (pulmonary artery) into the lung ves-sels, where oxygen is to be absorbed andcarbon dioxide, removed.
raised the blood pressure in the rightheart chambers, resulting in right-hearthigh blood pressure or PAH.
early 30s, came for a review of her heartcondition as she was pregnant.
first child, she was diagnosed to have se-vere PAH, with a right heart pressure fivetimes the upper limit of normal. With ap-propriate treatment, her severely swollenright heart chambers had returned to nor-mal and her right heart pressure, to twotimes the upper limit of normal.
Pulmonary arterial hypertension is usually seen in those with severe lung disease (often related to smoking), but may sometimes exist without any underlying disease. PHOTO-ILLUSTRATION: HYRIE RAHMAT PAH, a primary lung arterial disease notdue to other diseases; Mr A had “second- drugs in those with PAH is associated with holz in 2007 have shown that ED drugs, in a reduction of pressure in the right heart beneficial for the treatment of HAPE.
has had to curtail his daily activity signifi- drugs present an opportunity to alleviate his symptoms and improve his quality oflife.
ED drugs for the heart
✎ Dr Lim is medical director at the
Currently, the ED drugs available include Singapore Heart, Stroke & Cancer
sildenafil citrate (also known as Viagra), Centre. He is also editor-in-chief, Heart
cial effect of reducing the likelihood of the tadalafil (Cialis) and vardenafil (Levitra).
Asia (a journal of the British Medical
Journal Publishing Group), chairman of
the scientific advisory board of the
Beyond the heart
complain of a tinge of blue in their vision.
Asia-Pacific Heart Association, and
honorary professor and senior medical
adviser to the Peking University Heart
found to be beneficial in other conditions.
c-GMP accumulates, increasing the size of high altitudes, a syndrome called high-alti- blood flow, thus lowering right heart pres- cur shortly after ascent; this is an abnor- non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neu- mal constriction of the lung arteries as a re- sponse to low oxygen levels at high alti- walls of the arteries in the lungs and penis, ing for most high-altitude deaths. Studies

Source: http://www.btinvest.com.sg/system/bti/hsc/pdf/viagra_works_for_the_heart_too_230313.pdf