Surgery

Bronchial Thermoplasty¹⁴

A bronchial thermoplasty is a procedure performed on patients with severe persistent asthma to open their airways. Essentially, by destroying some of the airway smooth muscle that is responsible for bronchoconstriction, symptoms of asthma can be reduced.

This procedure leverages targeted radiofrequency energy delivered by bronchoscope to reduce the airway smooth muscle, which does not regenerate. It has been shown to significantly improve asthma-related quality of life and reduce asthma exacerbations for at least 5 years.

Unfortunately, there are some drawbacks to this treatment. Bronchoconstriction is an important component of the airway defense reflexes, which protect the lungs and body against inhaled toxins such as cigarette smoke and chlorine. Instead of fine-tuning this mechanism to work properly, a bronchial thermoplasty removes function altogether. This treatment is effective present-day, but will likely be phased out when humanity learns to better treat the root causes of allergic diseases such as asthma.