Erectile Dysfunction in Hypertension and Cardiovascular Disease

This concise guide to the often overlooked association between erectile dysfunction and hypertension/cardiovascular disease covers a wide range of aspects of importance to the clinician. It examines the impact of antihypertensive drug therapy on erectile function and explains how the management of erectile dysfunction in hypertensive patients depends on a variety of factors. Different treatment approaches are described, including lifestyle modification, PDE-5 inhibitors and other novel agents and behavioral therapy and helpful therapeutic algorithms are presented. A further focus of the book is the potential role of erectile dysfunction as an early diagnostic indicator of asymptomatic coronary artery disease and a prognostic marker for cardiovascular events. In addition, key background information is supplied on epidemiology and pathophysiology, and the significance of erectile dysfunction in different patient groups, such as the elderly and those with chronic kidney disease, is examined. Erectile dysfunction is a major public health problem affecting more than ten percent of the general male population and is now considered to be predominantly of vascular origin. This book will be informative and of practical value for all practitioners responsible for caring for the very many patients who experience erectile dysfunction in the setting of hypertension and cardiovascular disease.

Margus Viigimaa is Head of the Centre of Preventive Cardiology, North Estonia Medical Centre and Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine, Tallinn University of Technology. His main research fields are hypertension, dyslipidemia and cardiovascular prevention. He has done postdoctoral research Kyoto University (Japan, 1990-1991). M. Viigimaa has published more than 230 original scientific papers. He is member of the editorial board of the journal Blood Pressure. Prof. Viigimaa is President of the Estonian Society of Cardiology, Past President of the Baltic Atherosclerosis Society, Vice president of the Estonian Society of Hypertension, Honorary member of the Swedish Society of Hypertension, Hungarian Society of Hypertension and the Bulgarian Hypertension League. He is also Director of Estonian WHO CINDI Programme, Chairman of the Estonian CVD Prevention Programme and Member of the Board of the Estonian Heart Strategy.

Charalambos Vlachopoulos is Associate Professor of Cardiology at the 1st Department of Cardiology, Hippokration Hospital, University of Athens Medical School, with clinical interests in hypertension, interventional cardiology and sexual health. He is currently President of the European Society of Cardiology Working Group 'Peripheral Circulation' and Vice-President of the Artery Society. His researches address arterial function and structure with special interests on the predictive role of arterial stiffness and central pressures for cardiovascular events, the relation between arterial function and sexual dysfunction and the effect of lifestyle and inflammation on arterial function. His research interests extend to pathophysiology of hypertension, novel vascular coronary stents and the identification vulnerable plaque. Professor Vlachopoulos has published more than 160 peer-review articles and has been cited in over 6000 referenced publications in international peer-reviewed journals and medical textbooks of leading international publishers.

Michael Doumas has been Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine at the George Washington University (Washington DC) and Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine at the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki, Greece, since 2008. His research interests focus on resistant and secondary hypertension, sexual dysfunction and issues related to coagulation problems. He is author of more than 100 studies published in peer-reviewed journals.