INACTIVATION OF SMOOTH MUSCLE TISSUE
Treatment and procedures for treating bodily conduits involves deactivating, killing, or otherwise treating smooth muscle tissue of the conduit.
1 . A method of reducing the ability of a lung airway to narrow, the method comprising:
placing an effective amount of a muscle impairing agent into a blood vessel that supplies blood to tissue of the lung airway, where the muscle impairing agent affects the ability of the lung airway to constrict in response to a stimulus.
2 - 47 . (canceled)
48 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the blood vessel comprises a bronchial artery.
49 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the agent includes one or more of an artificial toxin, a naturally occurring toxin, a radioactive agent, a viral agent, a drug, Iodine 131, laser absorptive dyes, an agent that binds to constituents of airway smooth muscle, neutrophils, paralytic agents, and embolizing agents.
50 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising delivering a second agent to the body, wherein the second agent protects a portion of the body against the effects of the agent.
51 . The method of claim 50 , wherein the second agent is delivered by a mode selected from the group consisting of inhalation, injection, and oral administration.
52 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising stimulating the lung airway.
53 . The method of claim 52 , wherein stimulating the lung airway increases absorption of the agent.
54 . The method of claim 52 , wherein placing the agent comprises injecting the agent in response to an amount of contraction of the airway caused by the stimulation.
55 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising selecting a second vascular site, and reducing blood flow in the second vascular site to decrease the flow rate of the agent in the blood vessel.
56 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising monitoring the blood to determine an amount of the agent in the blood.
57 . A method of reducing the ability of a lung airway to narrow, the method comprising:
placing an effective amount of an agent into a blood vessel that supplies blood to smooth muscle tissue of a lung such that the agent reaches the smooth muscle tissue, wherein the agent affects the smooth muscle tissue, reducing the ability of the lung airway to constrict in response to a stimulus.
58 . The method of claim 57 , wherein the agent impairs, deactivates, or kills the smooth muscle tissue.
59 . The method of claim 57 , wherein the blood vessel comprises a bronchial artery.
60 . The method of claim 57 , wherein the agent includes one or more of an artificial toxin, a naturally occurring toxin, a radioactive agent, a viral agent, a drug, Iodine 131, laser absorptive dyes, an agent that binds to constituents of airway smooth muscle, neutrophils, paralytic agents, and embolizing agents.
61 . The method of claim 60 , further comprising delivering a second agent to the body, wherein the second agent protects a portion of the body against the effects of the agent.
62 . The method of claim 61 , wherein the second agent is delivered by a mode selected from the group consisting of inhalation, injection, and oral administration.
63 . The method of claim 57 , further comprising stimulating the lung airway.
64 . The method of claim 63 , wherein stimulating the lung airway increases absorption of the agent.
65 . The method of claim 63 , wherein placing the agent comprises injecting the agent in response to an amount of contraction of the airway caused by the stimulation.
66 . The method of claim 57 , further comprising selecting a second vascular site, and reducing blood flow in the second vascular site to decrease the flow rate of the agent in the blood vessel.