Devices for bronchoscopic lung volume reduction could be approved for use in the United States within the next year. Learn the latest on the devices, patient selection, and integrating these therapies with lung transplantation during Bronchoscopic Lung Volume Reduction: Is It Finally a Reality?

“Colleagues in the United States will find this session interesting because usually these procedures are only presented in any detail at the non-U.S. pulmonary conferences,” says Gerard Criner, MD, chair of thoracic medicine and surgery at Temple University in Philadelphia, and one of the session moderators.

The session will begin with a primer on the physiologic and functional basis for lung reduction by co-moderator Frank C. Sciurba, MD, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. Hyperinflation is a major complication of COPD, especially for patients with emphysema. Lung volume reduction surgery has been an effective treatment for some patients.

Dr. Criner will present on patient selection. “Different patients are appropriate for different procedures based on radiographic and physiologic characteristics,” he says. “My talk will focus on why some devices are appropriate for some patients, but not others—all of whom have emphysema.”

The session will cover the efficacy of three bronchoscopic lung volume reduction procedures—endobronchial valves, implantable lung coils, and vapor ablation therapy. Another method, total lung denervation, which Dr. Criner describes as a neural-based treatment to dilate the lung by ablating the nerve centrally in the airway, will also be discussed.

The presenters include Dr. Criner’s collaborators in Europe. Karin Klooster, PhD, from the University of Groningen in Netherlands, will speak on the valve treatment; Pallav L. Shah, MD, of Royal Brompton Hospital in London, will explore coils; and another session moderator, Felix J. Herth, MD, of Heidelberg University in Germany, will describe sequential bilateral segmental vapor ablation therapy. Dirk-Jan Slebos, MD, PhD, of University Medical Center Groningen, will discuss total lung denervation and its impact on the lung.

As bronchoscopic lung reductions enter the mix, clinicians will have more to consider for their patients. The final presentation, by Daniela Gompelmann, MD, of Translational Lung Research Center in Heidelberg, Germany, will discuss how to integrate these bronchoscopic procedures with the surgical techniques of lung reduction versus transplant.

“When a patient comes in, you’ll be discussing all three lines of therapy—a bronchoscopic or a surgical lung reduction is discussed with the pros and cons, as well as transplant,” Dr. Criner says.

Bronchoscopic lung volume reduction devices are coming, and pulmonologists would be well served to attend this session, he says.

“Some of these devices are undergoing FDA submission right now, so it’s going to be something they’ll hear about and have for their patients in the near future,” Dr. Criner says.

Bronchoscopic Lung Volume Reducation: Is It Finally a Reality (D2) is supported by educational grants from AstraZeneca LP, GlaxoSmithKline, and Mylan, Inc.

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