What Are the Benefits and Risks of Lung Volume Reduction Surgery?
The National Emphysema Treatment Trial (NETT)’s results confirms that LVRS is beneficial for patients that are suffering from prominent upper lobe disease and low exercise capacity, as compared with medical treatment. Even though it is effective for some patients, there are some risks involved with lung volume reduction surgery, they include:
- Air leakage: This is the most common complication to this procedure. It happens when air leaks from the lung tissue, coming from the stature line into the chest cavity.
- Pneumonia or infection
- Stroke [5]
- Bleeding
- Heart attack
- Irregular heart rhythm
- Death (happen when the listed complications worsen and become unmanageable)
These complications are common among inherited cases of emphysema known as alpha-1-antitrypsin [6] deficiency-related emphysema. They are not likely to benefit from lung volume reduction surgery. A lung transplant may be a better treatment option than lung volume reduction surgery for these individuals.