Surery for bronchiectasis

[falconcottage1]

Hi folks. I have bronchiectasis which is stil mild but am always looking for research. Every time I look at surgical interventions I hear positive result. It used to be that lobectomies were only for people with unilateral bronchiectasis. I get the Bronchiectasis weekly news nad this week the operation for those with bilateral bronchiectasis was discussed as beneficial for some, I don't really know how this wil work I think it must depend on the amount of lung affected. Anyway have a lok and see what u think.

healthunlocked.com/api/redi...

[falconcottage1]

Sorry about spelling I'm blaming the computer

[cofdrop-UK]

bronchiectasisnewstoday.com...

cx

[cofdrop-UK]

Actually it used to be, especiallhy in the 60s, not unusual for people with diffuse bronchiectasis to undergo a lobectomy, as I and others on here can testify from experience. It hasn't been the norm for many years and I too was surprised when I received the Bronchiectasis News this week falconcottage. Of course a lobectomy was a much bigger deal in those days, being open surgery and long periods spent in hospital both before and after surgery. Much better nowadays with keyhole surgery. Thing is we really can't say if we would have been better, worse or pretty much the same if we had not had surgery.

cx

[Hidden]

What's your FEV/FVC? If it's still mild I certainly wouldn't be going down the surgical route as it seems a bit extreme

[Billiejean_2]

Interesting post FC.

About 20 years ago I was turned down for surgery as the Bronchiectasis was too diffuse. My left lung had always been the worst one and Is now completely covered by fibrosis. I can't hello wondering if a left lobectomy performed at that point would have made a difference to the level of infections and hospital stays, that have characterised these years for me.

[rduffy]

I've always been curious about this too. My grandmother had bronchiectasis and she had both lower lobes removed back in 1956. She lived to be 87 and died of liver cancer so I guess you'd call that a positive outcome. I remember she had a phlegmy cough her entire life, even after the surgery. But I don't remember her getting sick all the time, like a lot of bronchiectasis patients do.

I was diagnosed with it in 1972, when I was 17. (Keeping it in the family, I guess.) I remember at that time the surgeon who did my bronchoscopy suggested surgical resection as an option, but my parents turned it down. At the time they told me it was because the doctors couldn't guarantee it wouldn't just come back. I've been getting by just fine all my life up until the last couple of years. Now my lung function is down to the point where they're talking transplant in the next couple of years. I don't think a lobectomy back in the 70's would have really helped all that much. But then I was lucky, like my grandmother I never got sick all the time. Just had to cough up a lot of phlegm. As health problems go, that was pretty easy to live with. If I had been getting constant pneumonias, maybe it would have made sense to remove the affected parts of my lungs.