The beneficial effects of bronchial thermoplasty, a non-pharmacologic treatment for asthma, last at least five years, according to researchers at National Jewish Health and other institutions. The therapy, in which heat is applied to a patient's airways during a bronchoscopy procedure, was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in April 2010. Among other criteria, the researchers report in the December issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology that reductions in severe asthma exacerbations, emergency department visits, medication use and missed workdays continued out to five years after the procedure was performed.
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