Easier Breathing for COPD and Severe Emphysema Patients

A treatment now being offered by LVPG Pulmonology and Critical Care Medicine provides new relief for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), including severe emphysema.

Bronchoscopic lung volume reduction, or BLVR, is a breakthrough for management of COPD, which affects 15 million Americans and kills more than 150,000 each year.

“We’re excited to be able to offer this new option to qualifying patients,” says pulmonologist Daniel Schwed-Lustgarten, MD. “Our communities count on us for leading-edge pulmonary care, and offering this proven treatment is just part of how we deliver for them.”

BLVR is a minimally invasive procedure, during which a series of one-way valves is placed into a patient’s lungs. The valves allow trapped air to escape, leading to a reduction in a condition called hyperinflation. In hyperinflation, air gets trapped in your lungs, making it tougher for fresh air to enter. As a result, you have trouble exhaling and getting all the air out of your lungs.

Patients who undergo this procedure have reduced breathlessness, and improved their quality of life, exercise capacity and lung function.

It is generally for people who:

• Have a confirmed diagnosis of COPD or emphysema
• Must stop often to catch their breath, even with medication
• Have reduced lung function (FEV1 ≤ 50 percent predicted)