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Year
2007 |
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Archives
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Viagra Helps Save two Newborns in Taichung
November 08, 2006
Two newborns with pulmonary arterial hypertension were saved by
Viagra -- a medicine more commonly used for erectile
dysfunction -- because of its effect in relaxing smooth muscles,
officials at the China Medical University Hospital (CMUH) in the
central city of Taichung said Wednesday.
Lin Hong-chin, vice director of CMUH's Pediatric Section, explained
that the babies suffer from diaphragmatic hernia in the left membrane
between the thoracic and abdominal cavities, which causes congenital
damage to the heart and left lung lobe.
At birth, they were found to be in serious respiratory distress
and sent to the pediatric intensive care unit for nitric oxide (NO)
treatment to help relax the smooth muscles in the vessels and relieve
the arterial tension, Lin said.
However, Lin noted that the cost for NO treatment per day is as
high as NT$6,000 (US$183) so that it was urgent to find an alternative
to relieve the parents' financial burden.
Lin said that at the time, he remembered reading an article mentioning
doctors in the Denver Children's Hospital in Colorado using Viagra
to help wean infant patients with pulmonary hypertension from NO,
hence came the idea to try Viagra on his patients.
Source : http://www.cna.com.tw
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