Hi,
<br />A few years ago, I remember first hearing about viagra being paid by medicare and nearly had a tizzy. I had never utilized viagra in the pediatric ICU and just thought it was being used for the sexual reasons in the general adult population.
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<br />Well, in my current job, we use sildenafil (viagra) for pulmonary hypertension, hypoxia due to poor cardiac function, etc. In hypoxia (low o2 saturations in the tissue beds), the pulmonary vessels will become smaller, making it harder for the heart to pump blood to the lungs to get oxygen in order to bring back oxygen to the rest of the body. In the NICU, they use sildenafil in their chronic lung disease patients and use nitric oxide (much more effective in the critical illness for vasodilation of the pulmonary vessels) for their sick infants (those with poor blood flow to the lungs due to cardiac anomalies, meconium aspiration, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, extreme prematurity, etc). It helps with improving oxygenation and yes, for the most part, the babies get better and are better weaned off the ventilator.
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<br />It's a great drug, but it can have some side effects. We won't use it in some chronic lung disease kids (usually ex-preemies) since their main issue is poor lung growth and they just have to grow more alveoli to oxygenate better.
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<br />I haven't heard it being used as a CF therapy, but hey, there are new things being discovered everyday and I can't keep up with everything!
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<br />Hope this helps!
<br />Jenn
<br />30 year old with cf, cfrd, and a critical care nurse practitioner in the pediatric ICU at Children's in WI
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