Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Some Doctors Using Viagra to Treat Children With Rare Lung Disorder
Aired July 24, 2002 - 08:41 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: You know about Viagra, that's the drug used mainly by middle-aged and older men for impotence. But what you probably do not associate that drug with is children. Some doctors now using Viagra to treat children with a rare lung disorder.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta in Atlanta, in our morning House Call.
Fascinating story here.
Sanjay, good morning.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Bill.
Yes, it's a wildly popular drug, certainly a household name. People have heard about it for a long time for treating impotence, but as you mentioned, Bill, it is now being used to treat a pretty rare, but sometimes fatal disorder in children, and that is called pulmonary hypertension. That is welcome news for the 28,000 or so children who have that disorder.
Let me tell just you a couple quick things about pulmonary hypertension to start. As I mentioned, it is a rare disorder. It is something that actually affects the arteries within the lung, and actually causes a high blood pressure within those pulmonary arteries, and because those arteries become somewhat stiff, you get shortness of breath, you get severe strains in the heart. Oftentimes, you don't know what causes it, and many times it can be fatal.
In the past, there's been treatments available to treat pulmonary hypertension, but a lot of times they're limited, they're expensive. They don't always work. And that's where Viagra comes in. In fact, Viagra, as we know, is a medication that relaxes blood vessels. That's, in fact, how it was first pitched, and that same sort of mechanism, that same sort of relaxation of blood vessels that we know it causes also seems to help pulmonary hypertension. Oftentimes, in the kids who are the most sick of all, Viagra has a real role.
HEMMER: That is fascinating. So a drug for impotence can help the lungs, and it can do it in small kids, huh?
GUPTA: Right, it is sort of startling, no question. Viagra, first of all, it's important to point out, when Viagra was first touted, it wasn't touted as an impotence medication. It was designed to treat angina, or chest pain, and by that same mechanism of dilating the blood vessels. If you look here, when you have a medication that actually comes in, and you have a blood vessel that is constricted, you actually give the medication. Over time, you'll see blood vessels start to dilate. It is that very dilation, or opening up of the blood vessels, that is so critically important when it comes to pulmonary hypertension, and that allows the blood actually to flow through the vessels better and really helps these kids with pulmonary hypertension.
HEMMER: Are there side effects here?
GUPTA: Viagra does have side effects, no question, headaches, flushing of the skin can be problems. If you take it too long, you can get liver problems.
Bill, here's the kicker, and I think what has a lot of people concerned is Viagra is not a medication given to kids, so we really don't know about the effect of this medication on children.
HEMMER: And if that's the case, then, are there dangers if you're going to use a drug like Viagra on newborns, where the, perhaps, in many cases, the conclusions have yet to be reached on the medical side?
GUPTA: Yes, you know, this is one of those really sort of tricky areas in medicine, no question. There's a lot of medications out there that are subsequently found to have other effects than which they're originally intended, and this may be a good example of that. We've heard of other examples, Botox, for example, finding all sorts of different uses nowadays.
This medication, while it hasn't been studied in children, while we don't know all the effects, maybe one of those serendipitous findings that prove so useful. Also, it's another interesting point, I think, Bill, is that a lot of medications that are used nowadays in adults are not also licensed for children, and so therefore, a lot of doctors and hospitals will say, you know, that medication seems to work pretty well for adults, let's try it in children. Downsides, of course, you don't know the doses, for children a lot of times. You don't know all the side effects. That's a big concern. A lot of times they do work, and this may be a good example of that, Viagra for pulmonary hypertension.
HEMMER: You've given us something fascinating to consider. Thank you, Sanjay. Dr. Sanjay Gupta in our House Call today. See you soon.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
