Preliminary research indicates that stents coated with sildenafil, Viagra’s active ingredient, discourage the formation of blood clots. This could help prevent complications that sometimes develop after surgery.
Sildenafil citrate, the active ingredient in Viagra, isn’t just for erections anymore. In fact, over the two decades that Viagra has been on the market, its active ingredient has been found to be incredibly versatile.
Pfizer, whose pharmaceutical scientists first developed sildenafil, also sells the chemical compound under the brand-name Revatio, a medication designed to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension, or PAH. Sildenafil’s vasodilating properties help to lower a form of high blood pressure that targets the lungs making it difficult for those with PAH to breathe normally and putting an added strain on the heart.
Other researchers have found that sildenafil citrate, used by itself or in combination with other medications, can help to treat a wide array of ailments, including back pain and certain types of cancer. Heart disease patients who take Viagra are less likely to have a heart attack than those who don’t take the drug. Sildenafil has also helped to improve the high-altitude performance of some athletes, most notably mountain bikers and soccer players.
Sildenafil Could Help Prevent Clots
Now, preliminary research, released in July 2017, indicates that stents coated with sildenafil could help to prevent the formation of new blood clots at the site of the stent. Stents, most of which are made of wire mesh, are often inserted in arteries at sites that have been cleared of plaque by angioplasty, a procedure also known as percutaneous coronary intervention.
The stents are designed to keep the artery open so that blood flow to the heart is unimpaired. Stents come in two basic types: bare metal stents and stents that have been coated with a drug designed to help prevent the buildup of new tissue at the site of the stent, a phenomenon known as restenosis. Stents that have been coated with medication are known as drug-eluting stents.
Clots Can Compromise Stents
Although drug-eluting stents are usually successful in preventing a narrowing of the artery due to the buildup of new tissue, they are often compromised by the formation of blood clots at or near the site of the stent. Researchers have been looking for a way to prevent these blood clots from forming while continuing to prevent restenosis through the drug-eluting stent.
A team of cardiology researchers at South Korea’s Seoul National University Hospital conducted a series of laboratory and animal tests to see what effects, if any, would result from coating stents with sildenafil. The findings from this preliminary research were presented at the American Heart Association’s Basic Cardiovascular Sciences 2017 Scientific Sessions in Portland, Oregon.
Drug Reduces Clumping of Platelets
In laboratory testing, the South Korean researchers found that sildenafil reduced the clumping of blood platelets by 30 percent. Blood clots are gel-like masses made up of platelets and fibrin. Clots serve a useful purpose when they stop uncontrolled bleeding caused by some sort of trauma. However, the inappropriate formation of blood clots within both arteries and veins can pose a serious health threat because the clots sharply reduce normal blood flow.
In testing with laboratory rats, researchers found that sildenafil increased the activity of an enzyme known as protein kinase G, or PKG. This enzyme helps to prevent the thickening of artery walls after any form of traumatic injury to the artery, such as occurs during the placement of a stent.
Activation of PKG Pathway
Presenting the research team’s findings, Han-Mo Yang, M.D., the study’s lead author, pointed out that sildenafil’s ability to activate the PKG pathway lies at the heart of the drug’s beneficial properties that prevent restenosis. The placement of a stent within an artery sharply reduces PKG activity, which in turn allows a thickening of artery walls and an increase in the clumping of platelets.
Yang acknowledged that the implications of the study are limited because it involved only animal and laboratory testing. However, he said if clinical trials in humans produce similar results, “sildenafil could be an ideal drug for coating drug-eluting stents or to give orally after stent implantation.” Because sildenafil’s safety has already been tested and established through a battery of earlier clinical tests, it would be available for almost immediate use.
Sildenafil Best Known as ED Drug
As you can see, sildenafil citrate’s medicinal properties are many and varied, but the drug remains best known as the active ingredient in Viagra, Pfizer’s little blue pill that revolutionized the treatment of erectile dysfunction. Introduced in 1998, Viagra has been followed to market by a handful of similar drugs, all of them members of a family of medications known as PDE5 inhibitors. They are so called because they temporarily disable an enzyme known as phosphodiesterase-5, which can interfere with optimal blood flow to the penis. For men whose vascular health has already been compromised, the PDE5 enzyme can make it difficult or even impossible to get and keep an erection hard and long-lasting enough for sexual intercourse.
Viagra and the other PDE5 inhibitors — Levitra, Cialis, Staxyn, and Stendra — as well as generic equivalents of Viagra and Cialis are available only by prescription. These drugs can be purchased at your local neighborhood pharmacy or from a trustworthy online facilitator, such as eDrugstore.com. If you already have a prescription from your doctor, you can fax it or scan and email it along with your order to eDrugstore. If you don’t have a prescription and would prefer not to discuss this problem with your regular physician, eDrugstore can arrange a complimentary online consultation with a licensed U.S. physician who can authorize a prescription if appropriate.
If the convenience and confidentiality of online ordering appeal to you, you can learn more about the causes and symptoms of ED and the various drugs available to treat it by clicking here to reach eDrugstore’s Erectile Dysfunction page.
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