Asthma patients can lead a normal life if they received the right diagnosis and right treatment, said doctors, who took part in an online discussion organised as part of The Hindu ’s series of Wellness Webinars on Sunday.
In the discussion organised in collaboration with Naruvi Hospitals in Vellore, T.V. Rajagopal, consultant, Department of Interventional Pulmonology and Respiratory Medicine at the hospital, stressed the need for continuous consultations and interventions for asthma patients as the disease was chronic. There was a misconception that asthma should be treated only when the symptoms arose, which he pointed out was wrong.
He highlighted the need for people who suffered from asthma in their childhood not to be complacent as the symptoms had waned over the years. “There is a perception that childhood asthma goes away over the years. It can reappear. It is important to consult pulmonologists periodically as the long function may drop without much symptoms,” he said.
R. Vijayaravindh, consultant, interventional pulmonologist, GKNM Hospital, Coimbatore, spoke on the importance of inhalers in treating asthma patients.
Inhalers are in several ways advantageous compared to tablets or injections. There need not be any fear regarding the presence of steroids in inhalers, as the amount of corticosteroids through inhalers was extremely low to cause any side effects, he said.
Prince James, head of the Department of Interventional Pulmonology and Respiratory Medicine at Naruvi Hospitals, spoke on the latest advancements in treatment for asthma, which were focussing more on targeted interventions. Monoclonal antibodies and bronchial thermoplasty were increasingly being used for effective treatment of asthma. Stating that asthma can be of many types, he pointed out that that was why the one-size-fits-all approach did not often work.
