This is very interesting.
It gives the body the ability to heal itself by removing the "pulminary fibrosis" tissue.
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Icy spray that can help to conquer bronchitis: Freezing the airways with liquid nitrogen destroys malfunctioning nerves By ROGER DOBSON FOR THE DAILY MAIL
PUBLISHED: 10 August 2015
Could Freezing the airways help patients with chronic bronchitis? The treatment, where liquid nitrogen at nearly minus 200c is sprayed into the airways to destroy malfunctioning nerves, is being tested in a trial involving several British hospitals.
Bronchitis is where the main airways to the lungs, the bronchial tubes, become irritated and inflamed. This can lead to symptoms such as shortness of breath and a cough that brings up mucus.
If symptoms clear up within a few weeks without the need for treatment, it's described as acute bronchitis, but if symptoms persist for longer despite treatment, it's known as chronic.
Around two million people in Britain suffer from chronic bronchitis, according to the NHS.
The condition comes under the umbrella term chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which is lung damage that results in restricted airflow (other forms include emphysema).
Over time, the walls of the inflamed airways thicken and more mucus is produced. Meanwhile, the delicate walls of the air sacs in the lungs start to lose their normal elasticity, leading to symptoms such as breathlessness.
Treatments for COPD usually involve medication to relieve the symptoms, such as inhalers to make breathing easier by relaxing the airways. The new treatment, which is being tested on chronic bronchitis, targets the thickened airway tissue by Freezing it - a technique known as cryotherapy.
The tissue is first rapidly frozen then allowed to thaw before it's frozen again.
The theory is that the cycle of Freezing and thawing destroys the tissue, allowing healthy cells to develop in their place, and improves breathing. The cycle can be repeated several times.
The approach has been used to treat Barrett's oesophagus, a pre-cancerous disease caused by chronic acid reflux, and oesophageal cancer.
The flash-freeze and slow thaw of tissue has been shown to destroy targeted cells, but doesn't affect collagen, the tough fibrous protein that provides a scaffold for healthy tissue to regrow.
In the procedure, a small tube, a catheter, is inserted into the airway via the throat and navigated to where airways are thickened (as seen from a prior MRI scan). Once in place, liquid nitrogen is sprayed through a small device inserted via the catheter.
The sprayed area is allowed to thaw naturally in minutes, then blasted repeatedly until the target tissue is destroyed.
The amount required and how long it takes differs depending on the needs of the individual patient and the size of the airway.
Patients at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and Royal Brompton Hospital, both in London, as well as centres in the Netherlands and Ireland, are taking part in the trial.
Commenting on the study, Dr Steve Holmes, medical adviser to the British Lung Foundation, said: 'It is vital to ensure treatments are carried out safely for the right person to gain maximum benefit.
'This type of trial is the start of a journey towards, hopefully, a new, successful treatment for COPD.'
Meanwhile, beetroot juice could help ease the impact of lung diseases, suggest researchers at the Royal Brompton.
They are testing the potential benefits in a trial of 60 patients with different forms of lung disease.
www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3193003/Icy-spray-help-conquer-bronchitis-Freezing-airways-liquid-nitrogen-destroys-malfunctioning-nerves.html#ixzz3idM0uXnc
