Affiliation:
1. Internal Medicine Department/Service of Pneumology, Pourtalès Hospital, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Abstract
Endoscopic lung volume reduction (ELVR) mainly comprises endobronchial valves (EBV) and endobronchial coil (EBC) implants. EBV aims to occlude the most diseased and/or hyperinflated lobe thus inducing complete atelectasis. EBC therapy was developed a few years ago and is applicable independently of collateral flow and in patients presenting with disease dispersed throughout the upper and lower lobes. Bronchoscopic lung volume reduction with EBC is feasible in a wider range of patients (irrespective of collateral flow or disease homo/heterogeneity) than for EBV, and provides clinical benefits in the short-term, associated to an acceptable safety profile. The growing clinical and commercial experience of ELVR with nitinol coils will be reviewed in this article.