Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is an incurable disease characterized by progressive scarring in the lungs - often leading to a lung transplant.

Reporting in the March issue of the journal Chest, Viagra® (sildenafil) may help patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, according to UCLA researchers: more than half of the patients treated with Viagra® improved their walking distance by at least 20% during a standard test to measure lung function.

Since pulmonary fibrosis patients have pulmonary hypertension - constricting arteries and lessens blood flow to the lungs - resulting in diminished lung capacity and breathing difficulties, Viagra® (sildenafil) may help breathing by opening or dilating blood vessels to allow more blood flow to the lungs, says the study's principal investigator, Dr. David A. Zisman (medical director of UCLA's Interstitial Lung Disease Program and assistant professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA).

This pilot study which involved 14 idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis patients was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Read the full report.

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