Does anyone here have experience with endobronchial valves?
Per the pulmonx.com website, "Endobronchial Valve is an endoscopic lung volume reduction therapy that has been proven to significantly improve lung function, exercise capacity and quality of life for emphysema patients..."
Hi garymont, and thanks for posting your question about endobronchial valves. While you may hear back from other community members, I thought you might gain some additional insight from this article on that very topic: https://copd.net/clinical/endobronchial-valve-system/. Should you want additional information, this article also devotes a section to these valves: https://copd.net/living/latest-research/. I do hope you find them to be helpful.
Wishing you well,
Leon (site moderator)I asked my Pulmonologist about possibly qualifying for a Zephyr valve treatment. At first he thought having been treated for lung cancer would disqualify a person regardless of the status of the cancer. He then couldn't find anything to support that so suggested having another PFT to see if my FEV1 was below 45% now. Does anyone know more details about qualifying for the surgery?
Hi
, and thanks for joining in this question & answer forum. It's understandable that you would like to be aware of whether you are a candidate for this procedure. From everything I have read, many patients do well following the insertion of valves.
Perhaps your physician can provide you with additional details as to what would make you a suitable candidate.
Perhaps others in the community will share their own personal experience with the endobronchial valve procedure.
I also thought this article, from Columbia Regional Health might provide you with some additional insight: https://www.crh.org/service-centers/lung-institute/zephyr-endobronchial-valve-treatment. Take a look at the section 'frequently asked questions' - it tells very generally what type of patient this procedure is used to treat.
For the specifics regarding your particular situation, you may want to start with your own physician.
What do you think?
Wishing you well,
Leon (site moderator COPD.net)
I have found out not suitable for valve treatment as my lungs too bad but my surgeon is going to carry out lung reduction operation and cut away some of my lung. He told me major op with high mortality rate 8%. Has anybody had this done?
Good morning. Thank you for your post and inquiry -- it is a good one. Sorry that you are unable to get valve treatment done -- although glad to hear that there are still options on the table, and that your doctor is willing to perform a lung reduction operation. Facing a major surgery can be challenging, and deciding on whether or not to have such an operation is a matter of weighing the potential benefits (in your case easier breathing) with the potential risks. Also, earning more information about it (and hearing from others) is a great way of gaining insight and preparing for what's ahead. We do have discussions on this topic. I will attach a link to one of them here ( https://copd.net/forums/lung-reduction-surgery) In one of the comments is a link to an article that provides further information about this surgery, which you can check out if you like. We also have an article written about this surgery by someone who had it done in 2014. I will post a link to this article here (https://copd.net/living/lung-volume-reduction-experience). What do you think?. John. community moderator.
