Goorsenberg AWM, et al. - Researchers evaluated the safety and feasibility of optical coherence tomography (OCT) in severe asthma patients, and examined acute airway impacts of bronchial thermoplasty (BT) by OCT and compared these to the untreated right middle lobe (RML). Using OCT to assess acute BT effects was found to be safe in these patients. Low-intensity scattering pattern of bronchial and peribronchial edema and high-intensity scattering pattern of epithelial sloughing were identified. These patterns were found to be distinct. Findings suggested that BT might also target smaller distal airways as the acute effects extended beyond the targeted airway smooth muscle layer and distal of directly BT-treated airway areas.