Patent ID: 8172827

Claim:
A method for treating the bronchial airways of a patient, said method comprising: endobronchially positioning a shaft at a location in a bronchial airway, the shaft having a plurality of needles coupled near a distal end thereof; penetrating at least one needle from the shaft across an epithelium and a mucosa of the bronchial airway; positioning at least a portion of the at least one needle at a treatment site outside of the mucosa, the treatment site including at least one of a smooth muscle layer of the bronchial airway and a collagenous layer of the bronchial airway; and delivering a medication out of the at least one needle to nerve tissue at the treatment site so as to inhibit hyperresponsiveness of smooth muscle cells in the bronchial tissue while inhibiting transport of the delivered medication away from the treatment site to non-targeted tissue outside the bronchial airway.