A new study has found that bronchial thermoplasty (BT) provides beneficial effects for at least five years, but the non-pharmacologic asthma treatment also reduces severe asthma exacerbations, emergency department visits, medication use, and missed workdays for the same amount of time, according to findings published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
For the study, researchers evaluated BT-treated subjects for five years. The proportion of subjects experiencing severe exacerbations and emergency department visits and the rates of events in each of years 1 to 5 remained low and were less than those observed in the 12 months before BT treatment. Respiratory adverse events and respiratory-related hospitalizations remained unchanged in years 2 through 5 compared with the first year after BT, despite a 18% reduction in average daily inhaled corticosteroid dose.
“These data add to the growing body of evidence that bronchial thermoplasty has a long-term benefit and is an important option for patients whose moderate to severe asthma is not controlled by medications,” said Michael Wechsler, MD, lead author of the study and professor of medicine at National Jewish Health.
