All research carried out at the Asthma Clinic of the Montreal Chest Institute (Montreal University Health Centre - MUHC) is driven by a single question: “How can we improve our patients’ treatment?”
Speaker: Dr. Ronald Olivenstein Founder and Director of the Asthma Clinic at the Montreal Chest Hospital (MUHC) As a consequence researchers mainly focus on understanding the mechanisms of severe asthma, for which our fragmentary knowledge leads to less efficient treatment than for mild asthma. Researchers are still unable to explain with certainty what differentiates a mild asthmatic patient from a severe one. The multi-disciplinary team of Dr. Ronald Olivenstein systematically analyzes these patients down to the last detail to discover any potentially conclusive reasons. Even if the basic mechanisms of asthma are not yet completely unravelled, therapeutic research has advanced. Broncho-thermoplasty, a technique invented by Dr. Olivenstein and his team, is used regularly with a high rate of success. 
This treatment is completely innovative, as it is a non-medicinal way to stimulate and facilitate the passage of air through the bronchi using a heated probe. This technique is a very promising avenue for the treatment of thousands of asthmatics in Canada.