There is such a group of asthma patients in the clinic – conventional bronchodilators, glucocorticoids and other drugs do not work well for them, and they have to struggle with coughing and wheezing once they have an attack. This reporter learned from Shanghai Tenth People’s Hospital yesterday that the hospital was one of the first in China to adopt bronchial thermoplasty to deal with refractory asthma and achieved good results. Zhao Qin (pseudonym), 56, has a history of asthma for many years and has been using a variety of drugs, including hormones, to control her condition. But as the disease progressed, the effect of the drugs seemed to get weaker and weaker, and asthma attacks became more and more frequent. Professor Wang Changhui, director of the Department of Respiratory Medicine of Tenth City Hospital, said that because of the recurrence of refractory asthma for many years, the smooth muscles under the bronchial mucosa of patients will become hyperplastic due to repeated inflammation, damage and repair; the hyperplastic bronchial smooth muscles will eventually form organic lesions, narrowing the lumen of the bronchial tubes and reducing the efficiency of ventilation; once the asthma attacks again on this basis, the bronchial mucosa becomes congested, edematous and exuding, which will further narrow the lumen and even make the lumen more difficult. Once the asthma attacks again on this basis, the bronchial mucosa becomes congested, edematous and oozing, the lumen will be further narrowed or even blocked. According to the introduction, bronchial thermoplasty as a purely physical treatment method – using fiberoptic bronchoscope carrying a heating probe, through high temperature heating at 60℃-65℃, ablates the hyperplastic smooth muscle under the bronchial mucosa and widens the airway, thus improving the symptoms of dyspnea. The technology has been approved by the U.S. and European Food and Drug Administration, and in February this year, the State Food and Drug Administration gave the technology the green light.