Heat Might Reduce the Symptoms Experienced by Asthma Patients

Up until now, for asthma sufferers medication has been the only treatment available for relief. But now, clinical researchers at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) hope to open up a new avenue to alleviate the debilitating symptoms of asthma.

The new procedure involves reducing the smooth muscle of the airway by applying thermal energy.

"Even though the smooth muscle in your airway serves no identifiable purpose, when something does go wrong with it, it can cause problems. It can constrict, tighten, and narrow the airway considerably, causing real health consequences for asthmatics," explains Ali Musani, MD, an interventional pulmonologist at Penn and principal investigator of the study.

Physicians will go into the airways with a bronchoscope, which is a routine procedure, and by generating and applying thermal energy, will reduce areas of underlying smooth muscle in the small to medium size airways with a new medical device.

The Alair System, manufactured by Asthmatx, consists of a single-use device and a controller that delivers thermal energy to the bronchial wall during an outpatient bronchoscopic procedure known as Bronchial Thermoplasty.

The system, which has an expandable wire basket at the tip, consists of four arms that come in contact with and fit snugly against the airway wall. The expanded basket then delivers controlled radio frequency energy for about 10 seconds to heat the airway smooth muscle.

Once the treatment session is completed, the device and the bronchoscope are removed. The controlled heat is designed to reduce the amount of airway smooth muscle in the airway wall, thus reducing the ability of the airway walls to contract, narrow and spasm in response to irritation, infection or inflammation.

"This is a minimally invasive procedure performed in a bronchoscopy suite. The procedure itself takes only about an hour to complete and no general anesthesia is used. This is done on an outpatient basis as a bronchoscopic procedure, with conscious sedation (in which a tube is placed through the mouth or nose and positioned into the lungs). There is no incision and no need to stay overnight," says Maureen George, PhD, RN, AE-C, Coordinator, Comprehensive Asthma Care Program in the Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Division at HUP.

Asthma is a common disease in which the airways in the lung become inflamed, excess airway mucus is produced, and airways narrow when muscles within the walls contract. Asthma affects more than 20 million people in the U.S.

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