The device is called Alair. It's a thin tube that is inserted into the lung's air passages to kill off some of the muscle tissue. This in turn reduces the narrowing of airways.
Dr. Mario Castro from Washington University in St. Louis explains, ‘In asthma, what happens is these patients develop enlarged smooth muscles surrounding their brochial tubes. This contributes to asthma attacks. The idea is to decrease that.’
The study conducted by Dr. Castro and his colleagues followed 297 patients in six different countries for a year. Two-thirds of these patients received three treatments with Alair, while the remaining third were given a placebo. Results were promising with 79 percent of patients who received Alair treatments showing improvement.
Alair is an ideal solution for controlling asthma cases that do not respond well to medications. The treatment already has been approved in Europe. A decision regarding approval from the U.S. FDA is expected in the fall.