What Are Some Promising Treatments for Asthma?
- An international study, which included 30 different centers around the world, was conducted regarding a new drug-free approach to asthma patients. The treatment is called bronchial thermoplasty and involves a doctor inserting a flexible bronchoscope through the mouth down into the airways of the lungs. A catheter is then threaded through the bronchoscope so that it can be expanded. This process provides heat to the muscles surrounding the windpipe. The idea behind this method of treatment is to reduce the muscle tissue that's being contracted and squeezed through the individual's airways. Bronchial thermoplasty is specifically designed for people who have been diagnosed with severe asthma.
Dr. Mario Castro, a pulmonary specialist with Washington University says that four out of five people receiving the treatment reported that they had an improved quality of life. The trial study is referred to as AIR2 trial and stands for Asthma Intervention Research.
According to Dr. Castro, any time an asthmatic patient receives any type of anesthesia or surgical procedure, the individual is at risk for having an asthma flare-up. In the AIR2 trial, patients would often become worse for about a week after the treatment, but would show marked improvement by the next session.
Researchers and doctors hope to receive FDA approval by 2010 for bronchial thermoplasty. - Jasper Lawrence, an entrepreneur in Silicone Valley, California, who has asthma, decided after watched a documentary that noted that people with hookworm do not suffer from allergies or asthma. Lawrence went to Cameroon, walking barefoot in open-air latrines in the hopes that he would get hookworms. It wasn't long and his feet began to itch and shortly thereafter, his symptoms began to disappear. After a few months, Lawrence was able to discontinue prednisone, which he had been taking for his symptoms. His asthma symptoms were gone.
Lawrence has since started his own company selling parasite treatments aimed at people with allergies and asthma. He has since branched into selling parasite treatments for other diseases, such as Crohn's disease and multiple sclerosis. To date, the FDA has not approved this form of treatment for asthma, allergies or other diseases or illnesses. - Cumberland Emerging Technologies out of Nashville, Tennessee, and the University of Tennessee Research Foundation received a grant for the continued study of technology for preventing the remodeling of airway smooth muscle, which will then reduce or eliminate asthmatic reactions in pediatric patients.
When the cells or the muscles that line the airway become inflamed, airway remodeling occurs. This may result in a decreased lung function. As of today, there is no approved treatment available when this happens. The National Center of Health Statistics says that 6.8 million children younger than 17 are diagnosed with asthma in the United States.