New Procedure for COPD/Emphysema Patients.

[hawthorn20]

I've just given up smoking after 30 years and I'm due to go for spirometry testing tomorrow. I've suddenly got quite a lot of breathlesssness so I'm not expecting the results to be good at all. However, I've just read a very interesting article from the archives of the Daily Mail health pages. A surgeon called Margaret Kornaszewska performed this procedure which apparently is done under sedtion. It works basically by realeasing trapped air which is the main reason for such discomfort in Emphysema. A bell shaped valve is lowered down the throat and then opened up to allow it to do its job of draining out excess air. This surgeon works at a hospital in Wales. It sounds too good to be true but I'd love to know if any of you know more about it.

[chrissie53]

I personally have never heard of this,,i don,t suffer from excess air, (i have Emphysema) and nor do my friends who have it,,most of us cannot get enough air into lungs,, but will be interesting to hear other comments,,

[Toci in reply to chrissie53]

chrissie, emphysema means that air is trapped in the lungs. See here:

"What is emphysema?

Emphysema is a disease that involves the alveoli (air sacs) of the lung. Normally there are over 300 million alveoli in the lung. These alveoli are stretchy and springy, like little balloons. Like a balloon, it takes effort to blow-up a normal alveoli, however, it takes no energy to empty the air sac because the alveoli spring back to their original size. In emphysema, the walls of some of the alveoli have been ruined. When this happens the alveoli become stretchy and act more like paper bags. A paper bag is easy to blow-up, but you need to squeeze the bag to get the air out. So, instead of just needing effort to get air into the lungs, it also takes energy to squeeze the air out. As it is difficult to push all of the air out of the lungs, they do not empty efficiently and therefore contain more air than normal. This is called hyperinflation or air trapping. The combination of constantly having extra air in the lungs and the extra effort needed to breathe, results in the feeling of shortness of breath.

The "obstruction" in emphysema is because the breathing tubes tend to collapse on exhalation, preventing you from getting the normal amount of air out of your lungs. This is a result of the loss of stable alveolar walls, which normally hold the breathing tubes open as your exhale."

thoracic.org/clinical/copd-...

[Toci]

You are right, emphysema means air is trapped in the lungs and cannot escape, causing breathlessness. A few on here have had the valves fitted. Try the Search box (top right) to read of their experiences.

[Puffthemagicdragon]

Here's a link to johnwr one.

healthunlocked.com/blf/post....

Here's a link to notlocal's first of many. There are some follow up ones. Well worth reading.

healthunlocked.com/blf/post...

[hawthorn20]

Just read about Notlocal's. I think it's a slightly different one to the one I read about although not entirely sure. Thank you Toci for such an informative post. I'd be most interested to hear anything about procedures any of you have had and what medication helps.

[Offcut]

I have RLD which is the opposite My lungs deflate well but do not inflate well. When I do a peak flow they see everything I can give, no reserve or held air.

[FarmerD]

Fascinating stuff,just shows there is hope for us all.Thanks to all for the contributions.D.