Bronchial thermolasty, an experimental new treatment for asthma is showing great promise in a multicenter clinical trial.

"Bronchial thermolasty involves the direct treatment of the lung airway with thermal energy, " says Ronald Olivenstein, asthma clinic director and medical director and principal investigator of the AIR2 trial of the Montreal Chest Institute. The procedure reduces the airway smooth muscle responsible for airway constriction in asthma sufferers.

Although researchers are careful to point out that there is no expectation this is the new procedure will cure asthma, results so far have exceeded expectations in reducing the severity and frequency of asthma symptoms and improving the quality of life of the patients treated in the initial rules.