Viagra/lining

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>Subject: Reuters.com - Viagra May Help Some Infertile Women Get Pregnant -

>Fri December 06, 2002 05:36 PM ET

>Date: Fri, 6 Dec 2002 21:01:06 -0500 (EST)

Fri December 06, 2002 05:36 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A small percentage of women with infertility due

to problems with their uterine lining were able to become pregnant after

taking the drug Viagra in a vaginal suppository form, according to a new

report.

Viagra (or sildenafil, as it is known generically) appears to increase blood

flow to the uterus, increasing the thickness of the uterine lining, or

endometrium. A relatively small number of women who cannot conceive are

infertile because their uterine lining is too thin.

"A very small percentage of woman--fewer than 5%--who seek in vitro

fertilization treatment can't get pregnant because their endometrium doesn't

allow attachment of the embryo," the study's lead author, Dr. Geoffrey Sher

from the Sher Institute for Reproductive Medicine in Las Vegas, Nevada, told

Reuters Health in an interview.

In their study, Sher and colleagues treated 73 women with this type of

infertility with vaginal suppositories containing Viagra four times a day at

the start of their cycle for three to 10 days. The drug therapy was stopped

about 2 days before eggs were harvested for fertilization and implantation

into the uterus, Sher explained. The women in the Viagra group were compared

with 32 similarly diagnosed women undergoing IVF treatment who did not get

Viagra.

About 70% of the women in the Viagra group experienced "enhanced endometrial

development," according to the report in the November issue of the journal

Fertility and Sterility. Furthermore, implantation and ongoing pregnancy

were considerably more common among the Viagra group--29% and 45%--than

among women who did not receive the drug--2% and zero, the report indicates.

Previously, Sher evaluated the efficacy of nitroglycerin patches in

increasing blood flow to the uterus, but side effects included low blood

pressure and severe headaches, he explained. The Viagra suppositories

deliver the medication directly to the targeted organ, he added, thus

reducing side-effect risk.

In fact, Sher reports that none of the women who took Viagra reported any

side effects whatsoever.

"On the basis of our findings, we conclude that selective use of (Viagra)

suppositories in the small subset of patients with a thin lining due to

inadequate endometrial blood flow may represent a valuable addition to the

assisted reproductive technology therapeutic armamentarium, although larger,

randomized studies are needed to better validate its effectiveness," the

authors conclude.

SOURCE: Fertility and Sterility 2002;78:1073-1076.