Survival after Endoscopic Valve Therapy in Patients with Severe Emphysema

Endoscopic valve therapy leads to an improvement of lung function, exercise tolerance, and quality of life in a selected cohort of patients with advanced emphysema. So far, only few data exist on the long-term outcome.

This analysis evaluated the impact of valve therapy on the survival of emphysema patients.

Survival rates of emphysema patients who underwent valve therapy were assessed according to their radiological outcome following valve placement.

From 2005 to 2013, 449 emphysema patients (mean age 64 ± 7 years) underwent valve therapy and were followed for a mean time of 37.3 ± 21.3 months. A total of 128 patients (29%) developed complete lobar atelectasis, 34 out of these also experienced a pneumothorax; 50 patients (11%) developed pneumothorax without lobar atelectasis, and 261 patients (58%) target lobe volume reduction or no volume change. Patients with atelectasis showed significantly better baseline forced expiratory volume in 1 second (%), residual volume (L), total lung capacity (L), and transfer factor for carbon monoxide (%; all p < 0.05), but there was no significant difference in the BODE score (p = 0.195). Patients with valve-induced lobar atelectasis had a significant survival benefit compared to patients without atelectasis (p = 0.009; 5-year survival rate 65.3 vs. 43.9%). The advent of pneumothorax in 84 patients did not influence survival (p = 0.52).

Lobar atelectasis following endoscopic valve therapy is associated with a survival benefit.