Has anyone had a Zephyr valve procedure?
After my first consultation I feel the costs of numerous tests, hospital stays, and very high complication risks outweigh the small improvement, any input is welcome, thanks 🙏
Hi again,
- it looks like you posted a similar comment elsewhere on our COPD.net platform, for which I was able to provide a reply.
For your convenience, I have copied my response to you here, in quotation marks:
"G'morning, Joe, and welcome! I see you are a new member here having just joined today, earlier this morning. We are glad to see you already engaging with the community through your first two posts today.
You may be aware, we cannot provide medical advice or diagnostics over the internet (for your own safety), but your concern certainly warrants a reply.
The endobronchial valve procedure is a relatively new approach in the treatment of COPD. We actually have some material published here, which may be of interest to you. For your convenience, here is a link to the information: https://copd.net/living/latest-research. It focuses on the procedure itself.
As for your concern regarding risk / benefit analysis - that will vary (sometimes considerably), from patient to patient. We have community members here who have said the procedure has changed their lives - made it easier for them to breathe and be more active than they were before the procedure. Naturally, the decision you have in front of you will be yours to make. I would encourage you to speak with your physician as well as the physician who will be doing the procedure. This should give you a better idea of how the valve insertion will measure up for your specific level of disease."
Should you be interested in accessing that conversation yourself, here is a link to it: https://copd.net/members/joechaney/status/133180.
Naturally, should you want to discuss this further, we are all ready to continue the conversation with you.
All the best,
Leon L (author / site moderator)
My pulmonologist has performed zephyr valve placement in Europe for15 years. They were not available until 2018 in US I was told.
I’m 78, end stage COPD, extreme lung hypertension. My 6 valves gave me about 10-15% improvement and I can walk 2-3 times farther in the house.Hi
, and thanks for sharing this. I am sure others in the community will appreciate you sharing your own personal experiences with this procedure. It must feel good to be able to have been more mobile following the valve placement.
Wishing you well,
Leon L (author/moderator)
Thank you
I have 5 valves and yes it makes a difference and I had no side affects
Can I ask were you had this done? I'm in Kentucky
Thank you. Hope all goes well with you. I really would like to have this done. It's a little scary. Just not knowing. STAY STRONG you so much
