Testing exhaled NO means that people with asthma now have a better chance of receiving the best possible treatment.

Until recently, the decision to treat someone, and indeed how to treat them, was based on the symptoms they had and on simple tests that only told part of the picture. As a result, many people who needed treatment didn’t get it or didn’t get the correct one. Of particular importance is the ability of the test to show which patients that will, and will not, benefit from the treatment of cortisone.

Testing for inflammation had never been practical until the discovery of NO and its relation to inflammation. Before, doctors could only test for it in non-routine ways that were very cumbersome , impractical and slow.