Phosphodiesterase five inhibitors for pulmonary hypertension

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is high blood pressure in the lung circulation. It can occur without a known cause, or it can be caused by another lung disease or be secondary to abnormalities in the left side of the heart. The review sought to determine whether there was evidence that sildenafil (also known as Viagra), a drug which opens up the arteries and increases the flow of blood, could decrease pulmonary artery blood pressure and alleviate symptoms of PH. A limited number of studies of short term i duration indicated that the drug can open up the arteries. One small longer-term study found some favourable effects in terms of symptoms, but in the absence of longer term outcomes, we could not establish whether this meant that the people given the drug felt that their levels of daily activity were better. Future studies should be longer in duration, and should measure the impact of treatment on daily activities, mortality, quality of life and exercise capacity.