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Viagra® (sildenafil) has been approved by the USFDA in 1998 for the treatment of erectile dysfunction. Since then it has become a household term and prolific spam content as well.

Erectile dysfunction was once an unmentionable condition but many men these days have found the answers with sildenafil and the subsequent introduction and marketing of Levitra® (vardenafil) and Cialis® (tadalafil).

Research findings and clinical data from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center determined the effects of long-term use of this class of drugs on various organ systems. Their findings (suggesting that the drugs, called phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors (PDE-5i), produce mostly beneficial results, and not just for erectile dysfunction) appear in the June 8, 2006 issue of the International Journal of Impotence Research.

"When we look at all the different organ systems – the blood, the heart, the lungs, blood flow in the brain – there are hardly any negative side effects. In fact, just the opposite is true. There are beneficial effects for primary pulmonary hypertension, as well as for conditions such as heart failure and lack of oxygen in the heart," said Schwarz.

"The only issue is that the data we have are from relatively short-term studies. Viagra has been on the market since 1998 and the other two PDE-5 inhibitors were approved by the FDA in 2003. Therefore, we do not have multi-year follow-up studies. On the other hand, the drugs have been on the market for several years now and there have been no reports of negative long-term effects."