Chronic administration of sildenafil in the pulmonary hypertension

Introduction and objectives-Pulmonary hypertension is a common illness in patients waiting for a heart or lung transplantation. However, its treatment has been reduced, only to the calcium antagonists, oral anticoagulation and prostaglandins. Recently, sildenafil has been used for improvement the hemodynamic state of this group, taken account the vasodilatation capacity of the pulmonary bed. Patients and methods-Observational study of 40 patients (33 women and 7 men, mean age) with previous diagnostic of pulmonary hypertension and functional capacity (New York Heart Association classification) II-III. Two groups: Group A with means of sildenafil 103.75 mg/day and Group B with controls. Baseline, six-month follow-up were based on functional capacity (six minutes walk test) and right ventricular catheterization. Results-We found a significant decrease of the pulmonary arterial pressure (69 +/- 3 a 49 +/- 3 mm Hg, t=21 p: 0,000) and the pulmonary vascular resistance (1866 +/- 11 a 948 +/- 7 dinas.s(-1)/cm(-5) t=3.24 p: 0, 0002). The Group A improves the Six Minute Walk Test in a significant statistic way (156 +/- 9 a 203 +/- 7 metros t=22,798 p: 0,000). No significant adverse effects of sildenafil were detected. Conclusions-Using sildenafil mean 103.75 mg per day, our patients, improve hemodynamic profile and functional capacity.