Anesthesia and anesthesiologist concerns for bronchial thermoplasty

Abstract

Bronchial thermoplasty (BT) is an upcoming treatment for patients with asthma refractory to traditional pharmacotherapy. BT is an invasive procedure which carries a risk of coughing, wheezing, bronchospasm, and laryngospasm during and after the procedure. Some of these complications can be minimized using better anesthetic techniques during BT. We hereby report a case of a 63-year-old female with poorly controlled asthma posted for BT done under general anesthesia (GA) with supraglottic device. GA provides better working conditions for pulmonologists when compared with sedation. But still there is no consensus on what would be the ideal anesthetic technique for BT procedure. Till the time, considering anesthesiologist and pulmonologist's prospective, GA (total intravenous anesthesia) using supraglottic device would be a preferred choice for a safe and effective anesthetic strategy in BT.

Keywords

• Bronchial thermoplasty; bronchoscopy; refractory asthma; supraglottic device; total intravenous anesthesia