Pulmonary Care

UF Health Flagler Hospital earned the Pulmonary Care Excellence Award from a leading ratings agency. The Pulmonary Care Excellence Award recognizes hospitals for superior outcomes in treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and pneumonia.

UF Health Flagler Hospital is also one of the few hospitals in the nation offering innovative bronchial thermoplasty services. This procedure is helping patients with severe asthma breathe clearly again.

What is Bronchial Thermoplasty?

Bronchial thermoplasty is a non-drug procedure for severe persistent asthma in patients 18 years and older whose asthma is not well-controlled with inhaled corticosteroids and long-acting beta-agonists.

The system delivers thermal energy to the airway wall, in a precisely controlled manner, in order to reduce excessive airway smooth muscle. Reducing airway smooth muscle decreases the ability of the airways to constrict, and helps in reducing the number of asthma attacks.

This minimally invasive bronchoscopic procedure is performed in outpatient procedure visits. Bronchial thermoplasty is routinely performed under moderate sedation or light anesthesia, and the patient typically goes home the same day.

Who Can Benefit from Bronchial Thermoplasty?

Bronchial thermoplasty is typically reserved for select adult patients whose severe and persistent asthma has not been helped by inhaled corticosteroids and long-acting beta agonist medications.

What is the Expected Outcome?

Bronchial thermoplasty is expected to complement asthma maintenance medications by providing long-lasting asthma control and improving asthma-related quality of life of patients with severe asthma. In addition, bronchial thermoplasty has been demonstrated to reduce severe exacerbations (asthma attacks) emergency rooms visits for respiratory symptoms, and time lost from work, school and other daily activities due to asthma.

Watch a video about bronchial thermoplasty below:

Image and/or Video provided courtesy of Boston Scientific Corporation

To find out if BT might be right for you, contact your pulmonologist.

For more information about BT, you or your doctor can contact one of the physicians performing this procedure at UF Health Flagler Hospital:

Javier F. Aduen, MD: 904-824-8933

Kishwar Husain, MD: 904-824-8666

Manoj Prakash, MD: 904-797-2338