My friend XE asked me if I would write about my perspective on bronchial thermoplasty. I’m always happy to get topic ideas
So, bronchial thermoplasty. Here’s a YouTube animation of what it involves. A bronchoscope is used to reduce the amount of smooth muscle in the airways with thermal energy, in an attempt to prevent that smooth muscle constriction which is one part of asthma attacks.
As an aside, I’ve always wondered what the hell smooth airway muscle is actually good for. I looked it up one day and found this paper: Airway Smooth Muscle – The Appendix of the Lung. I always thought I could FOR SURE live without it.
There’s an article on BT research on McMaster University’s website ( click here ). Results look good, with decreased asthma attacks and increased symptom-free days. The procedure seems to be intended for adults who continue to have asthma symptoms despite daily medications (that would be moi).
When I first heard about BT, I had concerns about the procedure itself. I was worried that it would require a general anesthetic – I’ve had a serious reaction to general anesthesia before and need to be extremely cautious with it. As it turns out, it can be done with a just light sedative and it takes under an hour. So, I THINK I would be willing to give it a go with a skilled anesthesiologist at hand.
I think this is exciting. If you can attack one component of asthma, that’s huge. If I could get my lungs to calm down and be less twitchy all the time, I’d go for it. Bear in mind, however, that as far as I know this isn’t going to get to the root of airway inflammation (also a big deal for me).
My friend XE asked me if I would write about my perspective on bronchial thermoplasty. I’m always happy to get topic ideas
So, bronchial thermoplasty. Here’s a YouTube animation of what it involves. A bronchoscope is used to reduce the amount of smooth muscle in the airways with thermal energy, in an attempt to prevent that smooth muscle constriction which is one part of asthma attacks.
As an aside, I’ve always wondered what the hell smooth airway muscle is actually good for. I looked it up one day and found this paper: Airway Smooth Muscle – The Appendix of the Lung. I always thought I could FOR SURE live without it.
There’s an article on BT research on McMaster University’s website ( click here ). Results look good, with decreased asthma attacks and increased symptom-free days. The procedure seems to be intended for adults who continue to have asthma symptoms despite daily medications (that would be moi).
When I first heard about BT, I had concerns about the procedure itself. I was worried that it would require a general anesthetic – I’ve had a serious reaction to general anesthesia before and need to be extremely cautious with it. As it turns out, it can be done with a just light sedative and it takes under an hour. So, I THINK I would be willing to give it a go with a skilled anesthesiologist at hand.
I think this is exciting. If you can attack one component of asthma, that’s huge. If I could get my lungs to calm down and be less twitchy all the time, I’d go for it. Bear in mind, however, that as far as I know this isn’t going to get to the root of airway inflammation (also a big deal for me).