Asthma is a chronic disease of the lungs, affecting nearly 25 million Americans. If you suffer from severe asthma, an innovative procedure called Bronchial Thermoplasty (BT) reduces the severity and frequency of your symptoms.
Bronchial Thermoplasty is performed by a specially trained pulmonologist over the course of 3 sessions, scheduled about 3 weeks apart. Each session focuses on a different part of the lungs and usually lasts about an hour.
During the procedure, a small catheter is delivered to the lungs through a bronchoscope that is inserted into your mouth or nose. The device then applies mild heat inside the airways to reduce excessive smooth muscle. Each session is performed under moderate sedation and the patient may go home the same day.
BT is a safe minimally invasive outpatient procedure for the treatment of asthma in adults whose symptoms are not well controlled with inhalers. The treatment uses mild heat to reduce excess smooth muscle in the lungs. Less muscle tissue means less airway constriction during an asthma attack, and fewer asthma attacks overall. Nearly 80% of patients treated with BT see a significant improvement in their asthma related quality of life.
Following completion of the 3 BT treatment sessions, the patient will continue visits with their regular asthma-treatment doctor for ongoing asthma management.
For more information or to be referred to one of our doctors, contact us at (713) 232-4373.