Sildenafil for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Associated Pulmonary Hypertension

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)can be complicated by an increased pressure in the pulmonary circulation. This worsens the prognosis, but so far it is unknown whether treatment of the increased pulmonary blood pressure betters the patients symptoms. In this study 32 patients with increased pulmonary blood pressure due to COPD will be randomized to 3 months treatment with placebo or sildenafil, which is known to lower the pulmonary blood pressure in other types of pulmonary hypertension. Our hypothesis is that treatment with sildenafil in these patients will improve the functional capacity measured by the distance walked in 6 minutes and life quality.