What are the benefits of bronchial thermoplasty?
In a double-blind, randomized, sham-controlled clinical study of bronchial thermoplasty, adults with severe asthma that were treated with bronchial thermoplasty had improved asthma-related quality of life out to a year compared to the control (sham-treated) patients. Additionally, when compared to control patients, patients treated with bronchial thermoplasty also experienced the following significant benefits:
- 32% reduction in asthma attacks
- 84% reduction in emergency room visits for respiratory symptoms
- 66% reduction in days lost from work, school, or other daily activities due to asthma symptoms
- 73% reduction in hospitalizations for respiratory symptoms
These benefits were observed during clinical studies where patients continued to take their standard maintenance asthma medications which included combinations of inhaled corticosteroids and long-acting bronchodilators.
Are there any post-procedure complications?
Adverse events (whether considered procedure-related or not procedure-related by the investigator) occurring with = 3% incidence that were more common in the Alair® group are presented for 288 patients in Table 1.
Table 1
* One instance of bleeding occurred 31 days after a BT treatment and was treated with a medical procedure
Adverse events occurring in both the Treatment Phase and Post-Treatment Phase at a rate of <3% and =1% (whether considered procedure-related or not procedure-related by the investigator) that were more frequently reported by the Alair group than the Sham group included pneumonia, operative hemorrhage, abnormal breath sounds, bronchial obstruction, acute bronchitis, bronchospasm, lower respiratory tract infection (viral), pulmonary congestion, discolored sputum (blood-tinged sputum), increased upper airway secretion, and viral pharyngitis.
1 Treatment phase represents adverse events reported between the first bronchoscopy and 6-weeks post last bronchoscopy
2 Post-Treatment phase represents adverse events reported between 6-weeks post last bronchoscopy and the 12 month visit
