NCT00334490

Does Oral Sildenafil (Viagra) Decrease Mean Pulmonary Artery Pressure After Cardiac Surgery?

A Phase II, Double Blind Randomized Controlled Trial to Determine the Safety and Efficacy of 12.5mg of Oral Sildenafil (Viagra) Compared to Placebo to Decrease Pulmonary Hypertension in Cardiac Patients After Cardiopulmonary Bypass

• Status: Completed
• Phase: Phase 2
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 40 (actual)
• Sponsor: Unity Health Toronto · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Post-operative pulmonary hypertension is a risk factor for right ventricular failure and an increasing cause of morbidity and mortality in patients undergoing high-risk cardiac surgery. Several treatments have been used to treat and reduce post operative pulmonary hypertension. Unfortunately none of these treatments are approved for use in this condition and only one (inhaled nitric oxide) is specific enough to pulmonary hypertension to not cause dangerous low blood pressure in the rest of the body. Sadly, inhaled nitric oxide is difficult and expensive to use, and can cause lung damage. Sildenafil citrate is quite specific to the lung vessels, is easy to administer and does not easily cause low blood pressure in other areas of the body. We hypothesize that oral sildenafil 12.5mg will decrease the baseline (pre-dose) mPAP by at least 20% compared with a placebo.

Detailed description

Sildenafil citarte is a selective pulmonary vasodilator without profound effects on systemic hemodynamics making it an attractive option for treating post operative pulmonary hypertension in the cardiac surgical patients. It is inexpensive and feasible to administer. Intravenous as well as oral doses have been shown to reduce the mean pulmonary arterial pressure (mPAP) and pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) in animal models as well as in clinical trials with adults with primary pulmonary hypertension and children after cardiac surgery . However, no data exists to support the safety and efficacy of Sildenafil citrate in the adult cardiac surgical population. The purpose of this study is to further investigate the potential role of Sildenafil citrate to treat post operative pulmonary hypertension in the cardiac population.

Conditions

• Pulmonary Hypertension

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DRUG	Sildenafil	12.5 mg Sildenafil once with optional second dose
DRUG	Sildenafil	12.5 mg orally once with optional second dose
DRUG	Placebo	Oral Placebo in 5 mls distilled water

Timeline

• Start date: 2005-03-01
• Primary completion: 2009-04-01
• Completion: 2009-05-01
• First posted: 2006-06-07
• Last updated: 2015-07-31

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Canada