PDE5 inhibitors: From Pulmonary Hypertension to Male ED

Erectile dysfunction is an abnormal condition that happens as an interaction between psychological factors and physiological factors. Erection occurs as the resultant of some physiological factors: increased penile blood flow, increased sinusoidal filling, increased venous outflow.

One of the medicines that used to treat this condition is from PDE5 inhibitors class. Besides apomorphine, alprostadil, papaverine, phentolamine, and phenylephrine; this is the mostly used medicines to treat erectile dysfunction. PDE-5 inhibitors have some advantages rather than other medicines: it can be taken orally, and it only enhance erectile dysfunction as the response against sexual stimulation. But it also has a warning: it cannot be used altogether with nitrates, due to resultant vasodilatation effect that is potentially fatal when these medicines are taken simultaneously.