Open Access

Fabian Geissenberger, Stefanie Bader, Christian Faul, Martin Schwaiblmair, Thomas Berghaus

• Objective: To evaluate changes in functional capacity after endoscopic lung volume reduction (ELVR) in patients with chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD) and severe emphysema. Methods: Lung function and cardio-pulmonary exercise testing were performed before and three month after ELVR. The extent of LVR was evaluated by high resolution computed tomography (HR-CT) before and 3 month after ELVR. Eight patients with substantial LVR or complete atelectasis were compared with eight subjects without relevant LVR on HR-CT scans by linear regression analysis. Results: Relevant LVR significantly predicts a reduction of total lung capacity (p = 0.046) and residual volume (p = 0.007), an improvement of the oxygen equivalent at rest (p = 0.044) and at peak exercise (p = 0.025), a reduction in alveolar-arterial oxygen difference at rest (p = 0.007), a reduction of the slope of minute ventilation to carbon dioxide output (p = 0.048) and an improvement of the respiratory quotient (p =Objective: To evaluate changes in functional capacity after endoscopic lung volume reduction (ELVR) in patients with chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD) and severe emphysema. Methods: Lung function and cardio-pulmonary exercise testing were performed before and three month after ELVR. The extent of LVR was evaluated by high resolution computed tomography (HR-CT) before and 3 month after ELVR. Eight patients with substantial LVR or complete atelectasis were compared with eight subjects without relevant LVR on HR-CT scans by linear regression analysis. Results: Relevant LVR significantly predicts a reduction of total lung capacity (p = 0.046) and residual volume (p = 0.007), an improvement of the oxygen equivalent at rest (p = 0.044) and at peak exercise (p = 0.025), a reduction in alveolar-arterial oxygen difference at rest (p = 0.007), a reduction of the slope of minute ventilation to carbon dioxide output (p = 0.048) and an improvement of the respiratory quotient (p = 0.017). Conclusion: Successful ELVR significantly predicts improvements in functional capacity in patients with COPD and severe emphysema.…