A $20,000 Lung-Searing Asthma Treatment Disappoints in Sales

Two years ago, Christi Thompson’s doctor put her under anesthesia, slipped an electrode-tipped catheter into her lungs, and used its hot end to sear the walls of her airways, thinning the enlarged muscle that cuts off a patient’s air during an asthma attack.

Before, her asthma could get so bad she couldn’t speak, and she regularly ended up in the emergency room. Since the procedure, Thompson, 43, hasn’t been once.