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Bronchial Thermoplasty

A new treatment for long-lasting control of severe asthma

  • Asthma accounts for 2 million emergency room visits in the U.S. each year.

The Alair® Bronchial Thermoplasty System helps patients with severe asthma gain substantially better control over their disease.

Bronchial thermoplasty is an outpatient procedure that treats severe asthma by going to the source. Patients who are 18 years and older and suffer from severe persistent asthma that is not well controlled with inhaled corticosteroids and long acting beta agonists, the current standard-of-care treatments, may be eligible for the procedure. 

The lungs consist of multiple airway passages surrounded by smooth muscle. For people with asthma, this smooth muscle is more susceptible to triggers and irritants that can cause it to constrict and reduce the amount of air that flows through the lungs. Bronchial thermoplasty uses a small catheter to deliver controlled energy to the airways of the lung to reduce the amount of excessive airway smooth muscle. This reduction decreases the muscle’s ability to constrict the airways, resulting in a decreased frequency of asthma symptoms.

Doctors perform bronchial thermoplasty, a minimally invasive procedure, under moderate sedation and most patients return home the same day of the procedure.