Viagra provides significant benefits for sickle cell anemia patients with secondary pulmonary hypertension

Sickle cell anemia often causes extreme pain, recurrent pneumonia, stroke, severe infection, chronic hemolytic anemia and secondary pulmonary hypertension in patients. Almost 1/3 of adults with sickle cell anemia develop pulmonary hypertension and is a major cause of death amongst people with the condition. Symptoms of pulmonary hypertension include fatigue, dizziness and shortness of breath. Sickle cell anemia is an inherited condition where the red blood cells are sickle shaped which causes many problems. The life expectancy of people with the condition has increased from 19 to 43 years in the past 20 years. 70,000 people in the US have sickle cell anemia. A study involving using sildenafil (Viagra) to treat pulmonary hypertension in sickle cell anemia patients found that there was a significant improvement in their condition. The drug was well tolerated with only a few suffering from headaches. There is no cure for sickle cell anemia but allogenic hematopoetic (blood forming) cell transplantation may be a viable option for those with a severe form of the disease. This treatment carries a significant risk but generally has a fairly high cure rate.

Source: summary of medical news story as reported by Yahoo News

Related Disease Topics:

• Sickle cell anemia
• Erectile dysfunction
• Blood disorder
• Headache

Related Symptom Topics:

• Extreme pain
• Recurrent pneumonia
• Stroke
• Severe infection
• Chronic hemolytic anemia
• Secondary pulmonary hypertension
• Fatigue
• Dizziness and shortness of breath

Article Source Details

About: Viagra provides significant benefits for sickle cell anemia patients with secondary pulmonary hypertension

Date: 6 December 2004

Source: Yahoo News

URL: http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/041206/dcm053_1.html

Related Medical Topics

This summary article refers to the following medical categories:

• Side effects
• Transplant
• Research
• Blood transplant
• Research and sickle cell anemia
• Research and erectile dysfunction
• Research and blood disorder
• Research and headache
• Research and secondary pulmonary hypertension
• Medication
• Medication and sickle cell anemia
• Medication and blood disorder
• Medication and headache
• Medication and secondary pulmonary hypertension

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