Common ED drug may help treat effects of muscle disease in boys

A drug typically prescribed for erectile dysfunction or increased pressure in the arteries may help improve blood flow in the muscles of boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, according to a study published in the May 7, 2014, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a progressive and fatal muscle disease affecting boys and young men that causes loss of muscle function. There is no specific treatment for the disease, which is genetic. Corticosteroids can slow muscle degeneration and help temper the effect on lung and heart function, but they have many side effects and more than a quarter of people with the disease cannot tolerate the drugs.

Tadalafil acts to dilate blood vessels