A huge leap forward in medical research could mean an important new therapy will be available to those suffering with asthma, say experts.
The treatment, bronchial thermoplasty, succeeds by "feeding" warmed air into the lungs. Scientists state it has resulted in 'significant' progress for individuals with acute asthma.
Sufferers in a twelve month experiment experienced about ten less asthma episodes, had an average 86 extra days with no warning signs at all, and had to rely on less rescue medicine.
They also benefited from an overall upturn in "asthma- related quality of life."
When the experiment finished, their symptoms came back.
Over 112 people in four nations participated in the tests, which were run by a group from Glasgow University under Professor Neil Thomson.
Revealing the information today in the New England Journal of Medicine, Prof Thomson is quoted as saying in the Metro: 'These results make us hopeful that bronchial thermoplasty may be a new option for patients with severe asthma who have asthma symptoms despite use of current drug therapies.'
Asthma is one of the globe's most well-known conditions, and results in the passage ways to the lungs constricting. 5.2 million individuals are thought to be receiving some sort of medicine for the disease, typically inhalers.
Bronchial thermoplasty warms the lungs' airway walls to decrease the tissue that plays a part in tightening them.
It is carried out under light sedation through a tube placed into a person's nose or mouth and down to their lungs.
The process is carried out three times, each taking up just under an hour and spread out by around three weeks. Those receiving it are permitted to go home on the same date.