Photo Credit: Spectral-Design

Symptom benefits after bronchial thermoplasty in patients with severe asthma are accompanied by improvements in ventilation heterogeneity, the researchers reported in the Journal of Asthma and Allergy. Investigators assessed 18 patients who underwent bronchial thermoplasty at several time points: baseline, 4 weeks after treatment of the left lung, and 12 months after treatment of the right lung. Patients also received lung function tests and chest computed tomography, and the investigators used functional respiratory imaging to determine ventilation parameters. Patients showed significant improvements in Asthma Control Questionnaire scores and exacerbations at 12 months after bronchial thermoplasty. The researchers only observed a significant change in pre-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1) in lung function. However, functional respiratory imaging showed significant improvement in ventilation heterogeneity after treatment of the left lung, with effects lasting up to 12 months. Ventilation heterogeneity also improved after treatment of the right lung, but not significantly so.