By Henry Ehrlich
Our thanks to Tony Cook for sharing his personal story on why he sought bronchial thermoplasty (BT) for his lifelong asthma. This is the third story we have done on BT. The first was by our friend, Dr. Frank Adams, pulmonologist at NYU-Langone Medical Center, surgeon for the NYPD, and host of the pulmonology show on SiriusXM Doctor Radio, which gave the facts on the then-new procedure.
The second was as part of Dr. Ehrlich’s coverage of an evening at the New York Allergy and Asthma Society when interventional pulmonologist Dr. Arthur Sung talked not only about the intricacies of BT, but very importantly, the strict parameters that should be followed by doctors before choosing to perform the procedure on individual patients. This is not a short cut for patients who don’t try valiantly to control their asthma by other means. Tony Cook was not one for expedient measures. He was and is a disciplined man who tried everything. We are happy to give him this chance to tell the world.