Research Will Test If Viagra can Help Increase Weight in Underweight Babies

Researchers in New Zealand will be conducting clinical trials to test whether Viagra could help increase the weight of underweight babies during pregnancy, thereby reducing the number of premature or stillborn babies.

Figures reveal that around 10 percent of babies born are underweight and lack of growth in the womb often leads to still births or extremely premature births which in turn increase the risk of long-term defects in the babies such as cerebral palsy, blindness and brain damage. Currently there is no treatment available for expectant mothers who will be giving birth to underweight babies.

The trial will be headed by researchers at Gravida: National Centre for Growth and Development and will involve around 120 expectant mothers from New Zealand and Australia who suffer from severe intrauterine growth restriction. Researchers hope that they will be able to utilize Viagra's ability to increase the blood flow in the male pelvis and replicate the same in women.

"You'll be familiar with the effect in the male pelvis, where it increases blood flow to a particular part of the body. However, our thinking was that there would be a similar focused effect in the female pelvis", Gravida director Professor Phil Baker said.



Source: Medindia