Viagra already has a number of documented pediatric uses, and now we can add another. A small study at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia has shown that sildenafil helps children with underdeveloped hearts. Children and young adults with a congenital heart defect called single ventricle heart disease palliation showed improved circulatory capacity and cardiac function after 6 weeks of treatment with the drug. The condition can cause long-term illness and increased risk of death, even after surgical intervention. All the subjects in the study had previously undergone a procedure called a Fontan surgery to divert blood flow to the lungs. However, those blood vessels can become resistant, lessening the benefit of surgical treatment.
Echocardiograms showed that the drug had dramatically improved the heart's blood pumping capacity in those treated. The study was published in the journal Pediatric Cardiology.
