Doctors at the Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, Va, recently treated the first US patient with bronchial thermoplasty (BT) using the Alair® System, according to Asthmatx Inc, Sunnyvale, Calif. The Alair System is the first device-based asthma treatment approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
An outpatient procedure, the Alair System delivers controlled thermal energy to reduce excess airway smooth muscle that is associated with airway constriction in patients with asthma.
The FDA recently approved the Alair System based on results of the AIR2 Trial, a double-blind, randomized, sham-controlled study. The trial demonstrated that patients treated with the Alair System experienced improvement in their asthma quality of life after 1 year over patients who received a sham treatment. In addition, these patients experienced a reduction in asthma attacks, emergency room visits and hospitalizations for respiratory symptoms, and days lost from work/school or other daily activities due to asthma.
Source: PR Newswire
