A new treatment option for patients with severe asthma is available, offering reprieve from a plethora of medications to manage symptoms.
Bronchial thermoplasty is available to patients 18 years and older who suffer from severe, persistent asthma that is not well-controlled with inhaled medicines, which are the current standard-of-care treatments. The treatment is available at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center in Phoenix and Banner Thunderbird Medical Center in Glendale.
The minimally invasive, outpatient procedure is performed through a bronchoscope introduced through the patient’s nose or mouth and extending into the lungs. The tip of the small catheter is expanded to contact the walls of targeted airways. Controlled thermal energy is delivered to the airway walls to reduce the presence of excess airway smooth muscle that narrows the airways in patients with asthma. The procedure, like many other flexible endoscopy procedures, is done under moderate sedation, and the patient may return home the same day.
The procedure is done in three treatments, after which a patient should not need further intervention aside from limited medications to control asthma symptoms.
“Banner Good Samaritan is now able to offer an effective alternative to patients who suffer from one of the most common and costly diseases in the world,” said pulmonologist David Baratz, MD, who performs bronchial thermoplasty at Banner Good Samaritan.
In the United States, asthma affects almost 25 million Americans, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control, and results in thousands of hospitalizations and deaths each year.
For information on bronchial thermoplasty, go to www.btforasthma.com.
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