Revolutionary new radio wave surgery heals asthma patients

Repeated asthma attacks cause lung tissue to thicken but the new treatment burns this away,opening up airways to make breathing easier,reports the Daily Mail.

The bronchial thermoplasty procedure was carried out last week on a middle-aged woman at Wythenshawe hospital in Manchester.

In the surgery,a tube is inserted through the patients nose and down into their lungs.

A wire with a basket-like structure at the end is fed down the tube and heated up,producing radio waves to burn away tissue in blocked airways.

The operation takes an hour and is repeated a month and then two months later until nearly all of the inflamed airways are treated.

Its very exciting. It may be a new option for patients with severe asthma who have symptoms despite use of drug therapies, said Rob Niven,a consultant chest physician who carried out the surgery last week.

However,the treatment is suitable only for severe sufferers.