Two professors at Southern Methodist University in Dallas,Thomas Ritz and Alicia Meuret has expanded a study that shows promise for reducing both the expense and suffering associated with chronic asthma. They have developed a four-week programme to teach asthmatics how to change the way they breathe. During the attack most sufferers tend to hyperventilate which results in fast breathing and deep against constricted airways to fight an overwhelming feeling of oxygen deprivation.This makes the problem worse by lowering the body's CO2 levels restricting blood flow to the brain and irritating hypersensitive bronchial passages.

Ritz and Meuret have developed a biofeedback-based Capnometry-Assisted Respiratory Training (CART) to teach asthma patients to normalise and reverse chronic overbreathing. A hand-held device called a capnometer measures the amount of CO2 exhaled. Using this device, patients learn how to breathe more slowly, shallowly and regularly. CART techniques could have a positive impact on quality of asthma treatment even as they reduce the need for acute care, Ritz says.

Ritz says that this kind of respiratory therapy can limit both the severity and frequency of asthma attacks. "That means fewer doctor visits and less frequent use of rescue medications, with the associated savings of both time and money. The training gives patients new ways to deal with acute symptoms, and that helps them to feel more in control," says Meuret who herself is an asthma patient.