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Breathe easier ... with Viagra
10 September 2004
LOS ANGELES—Researchers may have found a new use for Viagra,
after conducting tests on mountain climbers scaling Mount Everest.
The drug, which promotes erections by opening the tiny veins and
arteries leading to the penis, performs similarly in the lungs of
men and women
at high altitudes, a new study has found.
German medical researchers reported that sildenafil (the generic name for Viagra) enabled 14 climbers to better tolerate hypoxia, or lack of oxygen, while scaling the peak. Hypoxia causes altitude sickness and hinders exercise by constricting lung blood vessels, as well as triggering other changes in the heart and lungs.
The results, published in the Annals Of Internal Medicine, could have wide implications, not only for climbers and athletes working out in higher altitudes but also for patients suffering from lung diseases and pulmonary hypertension, said researcher Dr. Hossein Ghofrani. He does not, however, recommend its use for the majority of people in any setting. For one thing, it seemed to exacerbate headaches that occur often at high altitudes.
los angeles times
source :-http://www.thestar.com | 
