It improved the sex lives of millions of men worldwide, and now Viagra has been found to aid in the treatment of a deadly lung disease, pulmonary arterial hypertension. Strangely enough, this hypertension mainly affects women. The Pulmonary Institute at Rabin Medical Center, Directed by Prof. Mordechai Kramer, participated in a trial study of 20 Israelis out of 280 patients world wide, testing the effects of viagra. The study found that the medication definitely improved the patient's condition.
A few years ago, there was no known treatment for this relatively rare disease. People's lives steadily deteriorated once the disease was active, causing heart failure and death within only three years. The results of this study were published in the prestigious medical journal The New England Journal of Medicine. While viagra may not cure pulmonary arterial hypertension, it improves heart functioning, pulmonary artery pressure, and offers an enhanced quality of life.
A year ago, 71 year-old Gershon Gefen underwent a heart transplant with the "Heart 2 device," a permanent artificial heart, at Rabin Medical Center's Cardiothoracic Surgery Department, headed by Dr. Eyal Porat. Going abroad was the last thing on his mind.
Many Micronesia and Marshall Islands residents can now see again thanks to the recent visit of a team of Israeli ophthalmologists including the Rabin Medical Center's Prof. Dov Weinberger, Head of the Department of Ophthalmology and Dr. Iftach Yasur head of the Oculoplastics Service.
As Smadar Alon prepares to celebrate
her daughter's first birthday, she cannot
help but remember how they both
almost lost their lives.