What happens when your lung collapses after valve implants

[junespoon]

What happens when your lung collapses, after the insertion of a valve, thought it was a ambulance job.?

[out-for-lunch]

nothing .... well, nothing you'd notice.

I assume you mean Endobronchial Valves. I had them installed in my left upper lobe in October 2011. My left upper lobe duly collapsed as expected & my left lower lobe immediately hyper-inflated into the void. I didn't feel a thing, I didn't feel any different and, more to the point, it didn't improve my lung capacity not my breathing .......

[junespoon in reply to out-for-lunch]

So no benefit at all from the endobronical valve inplant.?

[out-for-lunch in reply to junespoon]

no, not in my case. The valves did their job almost immediately insofar as they collapsed the left upper lobe, but because of my particular condition my lungs left lower lobe hyper-inflated & filled the void within the first week.

I quote an excerpt from a recent report about me from one of the UK's leading specialists:

" ....... Having reviewed case notes and scans, I would not have considered him as an ideal candidate for LVR with valves due to the homogenous nature of the disease. Perhaps androbronchial coils would have been a far better option ......" & so on.

The good this is, I tried the valves, they didn't work, it's reversable.

The bad bit is, androbronchial coils have yet to be approved by NICE ..... but that's just a temporary hiccup ... I hope.

[junespoon]

Thanks for that out-for-lunch, That's so good that it is reversible, and like you say ,all is not lost, I am sure, that it will not be long before NICE, give their approval, all the very best, Its nice to have something positive to keep you going, and all the other people suffering with Lung disease, take care, Heather.