Potential Dangers of Viagra May Be Understated, Researchers Say

The potential health dangers of the anti-impotence drug Viagra, especially for men with heart problems, may be more extensive than warnings indicate, researchers said in today’s New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. P.K. Shah of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center describes two men with heart disease who experienced problems after taking Viagra.

One man, 71, had received an implanted defibrillator that delivers a shock if the heart develops an abnormal rhythm. The man had not received a shock for six months, but after taking Viagra and having sex “he received three shocks, each a few minutes apart.” Tests later showed that his heart rhythm had been dangerously disrupted. In the second case, a 52-year-old man whose heart had also been damaged by a heart attack developed an abnormal heart rhythm after Viagra-assisted sex. His heart had to be “shocked” back to normal.

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Compiled by Times medical writer Thomas H. Maugh II