Mechanism of Viagra

• Pulmonary hypertension is a potentially fatal lung disorder where the blood vessels supplying the lungs shrink due to noxious stimuli.
• As a result , pressure in the arteries of the lungs increases leading to Oxygen deprivation and the patient experiences difficulty in breathing becoming a blue baby.
• if the ventilator does not bring up the level of oxygen in the blood the next step is to infuse nitric oxide through the ventilator to lower blood vessel resistance in the lungs and improve Oxygenation.
• If the baby does not respond to nitric oxide the final step may be to use ECMO. Sildenafil may be an alternative option on a compassionate basis. This drug is still under evaluation.

How Viagra Works?

Sildenafil enhances the effect of Nitric Oxide (NO ) by inhibiting phosphodiestrase Type 5 which is responsible for the degradation of cyclic GMP in the smooth muscle cells of the pulmonary arterioles .Nitric Oxide is the primary mechanism of dilatation of the pulmonary arterioles by increasing the levels of cyclic guanosine mono phosphate (GMP) which directly causes smooth muscle relaxation in the arterioles . Hence the blood supply to the lungs improve and the dangerously ill blue baby steadily improves and progresses away from the jaws of death .