Bronchial thermoplasty—has anyone had this procedure?

[hilary39]

I’m interested in learning more about it and how it affects severe asthma in the short and long term.

Thanks!

[Echoblue]

Hi, sorry, I am no expert on this, but ironically a Consultant at my local hospital suggested I ask at my next appointment at my specialist centre about this next time I go as she thought it might be something I should look into! I had never heard of it before she mentioned it. Would be interesting if someone has experience or knowledge base.

Good luck in your search. Informed decisions are always preferable!

[hilary39 in reply to Echoblue]

I'll post on here if I decide to go forward with it!

[Coughalot27]

Hi, I have had the procedure done back in 2015. You have it done 3 times. Lower lungs, middle and then upper lungs. Unfortunately for me it did not work. But i wish you all the best if you are going to have it done.

[hilary39 in reply to Coughalot27]

Thanks for your response. It's interesting how it seems so helpful for some people and not at all for others. I wonder if there is a physiological reason. I joined a BT group on Facebook to learn more and there were several posts like yours. Thank you! I appreciate the candor- Take care. I hope you are well.

[Js706]

I went through assessment for it and they then decided that I couldn’t have it done at the moment as I’m too high risk for infections.

I’ll see if I can find the information leaflet the specialists gave me on it.

But as coughalot27 says, you have 3 procedures, each around 4-6 weeks apart. They’re normally done as a day case/overnight stay depending on the unit you have it done and how you recover after.

You’re sedated for the procedure (but technically awake) and they give you extra steroids on the day and for a bit after as there’s a small risk of slightly worse asthma symptoms in the short term after.

Long term they basically said that currently they’re not too sure about who it works best for as it’s quite new - so their next step is trying to work that out!

[hilary39]

Thanks so much for the thoughtful reply! I read from some people that they were pretty knocked out for a full week after each procedure. Take care, I hope you are struggling with fewer infections-

[Coughingnic]

Hi Hilary39 I've had this procedure. I ended up having it over 4 ops one month apart as a day case at the royal brompton under general. There is a short coursse of 50mg of pred just before until a few days after theop and for me |I ended up on a much longer course plus taper. For me this procedure has been a game changer. I was having 4-10 (mild/moderate) asthma attacks a day despite the full complement of meds including pred. I was constantly exhausted and i really struggled to work ffull time, my collegaues just got used to me looking slightly grey ad unwell.

It took me a bout 8 months to feel an improvement after the surgery with a lot of memory issues due to the frequent anaesthetics but i'm nearly 2 years on and i now only have a couple of exacerbation a week. Its an enormous improvement but I was in a place where I had nothing to loose. One of the biggest changes I personally noticed was that I started responding to far lower doses of salbutamol when i do get unwell. I used to have what felt like constant respiratory infections (mainly bronchitis, pleurisy and onec case of pneumonia) and in the past year i haven't even had a single cold. My admissions to hospital have completely stopped. According to a work colleague I also look alive rather than near walking dead and I go feel far more energetic too.

They do a lot of testing to make sure you are a good candidate ahead of the procedure. II wanted to share my positive story. Good luck with your decision. If you talk to the Royal Brompton they may be able to give you some data on the clinical trial that I was part of, they were trying to establish any indicators about why it can be successful.

[hilary39 in reply to Coughingnic]

This is so great to hear and I’m so happy for you! Thank you for sharing your experience. I am glad to say that xolair seems to be working wonders for me right now (it took about six months to kick in) but I think I need to keep BT in my back pocket as my asthma is changeable and getting worse with age. Thanks again for your kind and helpful explanation of your own experience. Take care.