Surgery
Surgery as a treatment for COPD is reserved for when the case gets severe, and when other treatments are not working, it is primarily a form of severe emphysema when it reaches this point. There are different surgical options, they include:
Lung transplant
Lung transplant is a significant type of surgery that has many risks, such as the body not aligning with the organ (organ rejection), which would result in you taking lifelong immune-suppressing medications [6]. However, if the surgery is successful, it can improve your ability to breathe and be more active. A lung transplant can only be diagnosed and done by a surgeon.
Lung volume reduction surgery
This is when your surgeon removes small wedges of damaged lung tissue from the upper lungs. More space is created in the chest cavity that allows the other healthier lung tissues to expand—resulting in the diaphragm working more efficiently. Lung volume reduction surgery has proven to improve the patient’s quality of life and prolong survival.
Bullectomy
In COPD, where the walls in the air sacs are destroyed, large air spaces begin to form in the lungs. In bullectomy surgery, the doctor removes the large air spaces known as bullae from the lungs to help improve airflow. The removal of the bullae would make it easier to breathe.