Ten to fifteen percent of the more than 22 million Americans with asthma are diagnosed with severe persistent asthma. Severe persistent asthma is asthma that is not well controlled despite the combined use of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) and long-acting beta-agonists (LABA), such as Advair® or Symbicort®.
Patients with severe persistent asthma experience frequent symptoms such as cough, wheeze, shortness of breath, chest tightness, mucus production and severe exacerbations of asthma or asthma attacks. These patients experience poor asthma quality of life. They account for a substantial portion of the overall economic burden of asthma given frequent physician office visits, emergency room visits, hospitalizations, and lost time from work/school/other daily activities due to their asthma. Bronchial thermoplasty is an option for these patients.
What happens when your airways (or breathing passages) are narrowed?
- In asthmatic airways, the amount of muscle that circles the airways (airway smooth muscle) is increased.
- Contraction of this excess airway smooth muscle, swelling or inflammation of the airways, and excess mucus can cause narrowing of the airways.
- When the airways narrow you may experience shortness of breath, chest tightness, wheezing, and cough.
Bronchial thermoplasty (BT) is a novel procedure that is an effective add-on therapy to standard asthma medication. BT reduces excess airway smooth muscle which reduces the ability of the airway to contract or narrow. Patients treated with BT would continue to take their daily maintenance asthma medication to control the inflammation of the airways.
Advair is a registered trademark of GlaxoSmithKline, Inc.
Symbicort is a registered trademark of AstraZeneca, Inc.
