Radio wave surgery gives hope to thousands of asthma sufferers

Tens of thousands of asthma sufferers could benefit from a new treatment that uses radio waves to open up their airways.

It has been shown to dramatically reduce debilitating symptoms and help patients lead normal lives.

The procedure was carried out in England for the first time last week on a woman with severe asthma who is now recovering at home.

Asthma attack: Medication can help ease inflammation but a new operation tackles the airway muscle itself

Doctors have lined up three other patients for the surgery which they hope will soon be widely available on the NHS.

Around 5.4million Britons suffer from asthma, 250,000 of these having such bad wheezing that they can neither exercise nor work. The treatment is suitable only for these severe sufferers.

Repeated asthma attacks cause lung tissue to thicken but the new treatment ‘burns’ this away, opening up airways to make breathing easier.

The ‘bronchial thermoplasty’ procedure was carried out last week on a middle-aged woman at Wythenshawe hospital in Manchester.

Although numerous trials have been undertaken in the U.S. and Canada, only one other European patient has been treated.





Patients are under sedation – but remain conscious – while a tube is inserted through their nose and down into their lungs.

A wire with a basket-like structure at the end is fed down the tube and heated up, producing radio waves to burn away tissue in blocked airways.

The operation takes an hour and is repeated a month and then two months later until nearly all of the inflamed airways are treated.

Rob Niven, a consultant chest physician who carried out the surgery last week, said: ‘It’s very exciting. It may be a new option for patients with severe asthma who have symptoms despite use of drug therapies.

Non-drug therapy: This video still shows how the electrode array emits radio energy to heat up the smooth muscles that line the airways in the lung

‘The operation went according to plan and our patient is responding well.

‘We are expecting a significant improvement in her condition over the next few months.

‘We know it’s going to help a lot of people, it’s just a question of whether we can get funding during this difficult time.’

Around 1,200 people die in Britain every year from asthma attacks. Those who suffer from the most severe form usually have to take steroid tablets to control their debilitating symptoms.