Drugs for erectile dysfunction protect the heart before and after a heart attack.
During a heart attack, damage to the heart muscle is caused by oxygen deprivation. There are currently no therapies which can prevent this damage. However, researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University now reveal that the erectile dysfunction drugs sildenafil and vardenafil may have a role to play.
Both drugs can improve blood flow - this is the basis for their use in erectile dysfunction. In an animal model, the ability of the drugs to improve blood flow was found to protect the heart from damage related to oxygen deprivation. In these experiments, the erectile dysfunction drugs were compared to a standard heart drug, nitroglycerin and were found to be superior. Further research is needed, of course, but it may be that sildenafil and vardenafil have a role to play in protecting the heart. They could be used for patients undergoing procedures like angioplasty or heart bypass, where the heart is at risk of oxygen deprivation, or after a heart attack to limit the damage to the heart muscle.
Source : Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology February 2007
