Lung abscess as a complication of bronchial thermoplasty

Bronchial thermoplasty (BT) is an emerging treatment modality for patients with difficult to treat asthma. It has been shown to be beneficial for symptom control and improves quality of life and reduces frequency of hospitalization. Safety data from the two major trials of BT indicate that patients who undergo these procedures are most likely to experience adverse respiratory events in the first six weeks post treatment. Lung abscess has never been reported as a direct complication of BT. In this case; we report a lung abscess as an immediate complication of BT, which we believe may be the first case.

We describe a forty three year old Caucasian female presented three days post-bronchial thermoplasty with left sided chest pain radiating to the back associated with shortness of breath, wheeze and dry cough. She had also started to feel hot and cold and generally unwell.

It remains unclear why this patient developed a lung abscess so acutely post BT treatment. It is important that safety data continues to be collated and published as the procedure becomes more widely available with further long term follow-up in particular.