Severe Asthma Program

Patients are considered refractory when they experience persistent symptoms, frequent asthma attacks or low lung function despite taking high doses of asthma medications. Some asthma patients have to take oral steroids such as prednisone on a daily basis to manage their asthma.

There have been some exciting new therapies developed for people with severe asthma. In order to take advantage of these new treatments, patients need to be full evaluated to determine what phenotype or particular variant of asthma they have.

We are experienced in the management of severe asthmatics and develop individualized treatment plans following the latest evidence-based guidelines. Our goal is to treat severe asthma patients with the least amount of medicine possible while striving to minimize the effect of asthma on people’s lifestyles.

We provide a step-wise approach as recommended by the latest evidence-based guidelines combined with our clinical experience and respecting our patients’ values. This begins with a comprehensive evaluation including:

• Testing of lung function.
• Complete evaluation looking for other conditions known to cause cough, dyspnea, and wheeze and which can also worsen asthma control such as environmental allergies, sleep apnea, vocal cord problems and others.
• Identifying and treating any conditions that result from the need for long-term use of high-dose or strong asthma medications such as prednisone.
• Combining the patient’s history with the specific testing to determine what variant of asthma (phenotype) the patient has and then basing choices of new therapies on the particular phenotype (individualized care).

Follow-up visits are scheduled every 4-6 weeks until symptoms are stabilized; then every 3-4 months for ongoing monitoring and management.

Your individualized asthma action plan will be reviewed and revised if needed. Concerns regarding asthma management will be addressed and additional education will be provided. All test results, progress notes, asthma action plans and education provided will be sent to the primary care provider.