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A tiny heater that warms the lungs and airways is being used to treat asthma. The device which is inserted through the nose or mouth, gives ten seconds blast of mild heat to the muscles to stop them contracting. Researchers show that the beneficial effects of three sessions of the device can last for more than two years.

In an asthma attack, the smooth muscle around the walls of the airways -small tubes that carry air in and out of the lungs - tighten and narrow. The lining of these airways gets inflamed and starts to swell, a sticky mucus is produced, and the narrowing and irritation lead to the symptoms of asthma: coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath.There is no cure and the drug treatments relievers or bronchodilators, which relax the smooth muscles of the airways, and controllers, corticosteroids, which reduce inflammation -tackle the symptoms rather than the cause.
The technique, bronchial thermoplasty, is for patients with moderate and severe asthma.It is designed to have a similar effect to the relievers, but by using heat rather than drugs. It keeps the airways from narrowing by preventing the smooth muscle from contracting. The device consists of a flexible tube with an expandable wire basket, like a mini food whisk, at the working end, and a controller that delivers thermal energy and heat to the wall of the airways.
A flexible tube carrying the device goes through the mouth or nose. No incision is required and the patient is under conscious sedation with no anaesthesia.In the outpatient procedure, which takes about an hour, the tiny device goes down the tube and into the airway. Once in position, the four arms of the basket deliver controlled thermal energy for about ten seconds to heat the airway's smooth muscle to a warm temperature that causes no pain.
Exactly how the device works is not clear, but heat is known to relax muscles and it is thought the heat reduces the amount of smooth muscle around the airway, which in asthma tends to increase and be hypersensitive.