Bronchial Thermoplasty System

Asthma Treatment Without Drugs ?

Bronchial thermoplasty (BT) is a procedure which has been under trial in the clinics for about 5 years to control severe asthma. In this bronchoschopic procedure, radio frequency is sent inside major airways.

The purpose is to reduce airway smooth muscle mass. Its course includes three procedures to be completed at an interval of two weeks. This study was concluded by Castro and his colleagues. This treatment was randomly given to a few among 288 adults listed in 30 international sites. They were surviving on high-dose of inhaled corticosteroids.

After administering BT or sham-BT, they showed improvement. The result of the BT treatment was better as the patients had lesser severe attacks and they did not miss their work too frequently.

The sole setback is that the administration of BT sometimes aggravated the basic symptoms of asthma and few patients were occasionally hospitalized. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the procedure in April 2010. The benefits of BT are real and it has been rightly described as the most optimal treatment without the involvement of any kind of drugs.

According to Castro M, Rubin AS would consider referring a patient for BT after every effort should be made to optimize medical management, according to GINA (Global Initiative for Asthma) guidelines, is exhausted and asthma remains poorly controlled.

Given that BT should be used only after all of the conventional measures have been exhausted, I do not at present expect BT to be warranted in more than a small percentage of asthmatics.

The procedure is well tolerated by the patients. However, it is difficult to determine the long-term benefit/risk ratio for BT at this point of time. For the success of the procedure, the patient should be given adequate education and he should abide by all the rules. But at present BT should be given to patients only after all conventional methods have failed. With successful results, one can get more surety with respect to the treatment.

A New Treatment for Severe Asthma: Bronchial Thermoplasty

Bronchial Thermoplasty – An Effective Alternative Asthma Therapy

Alair Bronchial Thermoplasty System receives FDA approval to treat asthma in adults