Effect of Zephyr Endobronchial Valves on Dyspnea, Activity Levels, and Quality of Life at One Year. Results from a Randomized Clinical Trial

A 6-year experience of Zephyr endobronchial valves for severe emphysema in an Australian single-centre cohort

BACKGROUND

Endobronchial valve (EBV) insertion for lung volume reduction is a management option for patients with severe emphysema. One-way valves cause lobar deflation and improve lung function, exercise capacity and quality of life.

AIMS

To retrospectively analyse and compare the outcomes of the first 57 patients treated with EBVs between 2015 and 2021 at the Royal Adelaide Hospital to international standards.

METHODS

Clinical outcomes of forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), residual volume (RV), treated lobe volume reduction (TLVR) and 6-min walk distance (6MWD) at 3, 6 and 12 months after valve insertion were reviewed against established minimally clinically important differences (MCIDs). Complications and subjective breathlessness measured by Borg scores were also reviewed.

RESULTS

Fifty-seven patients were included. At 12 months, 77.2% achieved TLVR. FEV1 improved by 170 mL (95% confidence interval (CI): 100-250, P < 0.001), 80 mL (95% CI: 10-150, P = 0.019) and 40 mL (95% CI: -60 to 130, P 0.66) at 3, 6 and 12 months respectively. RV improved by -610 mL (95% CI: -330 to -900, P < 0.0001) at 3 months, -640 mL (95% CI: -360 to -920, P < 0.0001) at 6 months and -360 mL (95% CI: -60 to -680, P = 0.017) at 12 months. 6MWD improved by 57.34 m (95% CI: 36.23-78.45, P < 0.0001) and 44.93 m (95% CI: 7.19-82.67, P = 0.02) at 3 and 6 months. Borg score improved by -0.53 (95% CI: 0.11 to -1.2, P = 0.11) and -0.49 (95% CI: 0.17 to -1.15, P = 0.16) at 3 and 6 months. Complication rates aligned with international standards with mucous/infection (26.3%) and pneumothorax (17.5%) as the most common. Subgroup analysis signalled improved outcomes in patients with heterogeneous emphysema.

CONCLUSION

Our study represents the first publicly funded Australian analysis of EBVs. The results align with international prospective trials demonstrating improved lung function and exercise capacity. Australians with severe emphysema and gas trapping should be referred to a multidisciplinary centre for consideration of EBVs.

Surgical and bronchoscopic pulmonary function-improving procedures in lung emphysema

COPD is a highly prevalent, chronic and irreversible obstructive airway disease without curative treatment. Standard therapeutic strategies, both non-pharmacological and pharmacological, have only limited effects on lung function parameters of patients with severe disease. Despite optimal pharmacological treatment, many patients with severe COPD still have a high burden of dyspnoea and a poor quality of life. If these patients have severe lung emphysema, with hyperinflation as the driver of symptoms and exercise intolerance, lung volume reduction may be an effective treatment with a significant impact on lung function, exercise capacity and quality of life. Currently, different lung volume reduction approaches, both surgical and bronchoscopic, have shown encouraging results and have been implemented in COPD treatment recommendations. Nevertheless, choosing the optimal lung volume reduction strategy for an individual patient remains challenging. Moreover, there is still room for improving durability of effect and safety in all available procedures. Ongoing and innovative research is essential to push this field forwards. This review provides an overview of results and limitations of the current lung volume reduction options for patients with severe lung emphysema and hyperinflation.

Top Ten Tips Palliative Care Clinicians Should Know About Delivering Specialty-Aligned Palliative Care

Specialty-aligned palliative care (SAPC) refers to interprofessional palliative care (PC) that is delivered to a specific population of patients in close partnership with other primary or specialty clinicians. As evolving PC models address physical, psychosocial, and spiritual suffering across illnesses and settings, PC clinicians must acquire advanced knowledge of disease-specific symptoms, common treatments, and complications that impact prognosis and outcomes. The tips provided in this article draw on the experience and knowledge of interprofessional PC and other specialist clinicians from diverse institutions across the United States who have developed and studied SAPC services across different disease groups. Recommendations include focusing on approaching specialty team partnerships with humility, curiosity, and diplomacy; focusing on patient populations where PC needs are great; clarifying how work and responsibilities will be divided between PC and other clinicians to the extent possible; using consults as opportunities for bidirectional learning; and adapting workflows and schedules to meet specialty team needs while managing expectations and setting limits as appropriate. Furthermore, to provide effective SAPC, PC clinicians must learn about the specific symptoms, prognoses, and common treatments of the patients they are serving. They must also build trusting relationships and maintain open communication with patients and referring clinicians to ensure integrated and aligned PC delivery.

Bronchoscopic Lung Volume Reduction: A Clinical Review

Bronchoscopic lung volume reduction (BLVR) for the treatment of emphysema was originally developed in the early 2000s as a minimally invasive alternative to lung volume reduction surgery. Endobronchial valves for BLVR are an advancing "guideline treatment" in the treatment of advanced emphysema. Placement of small, one-way valves into segmental or subsegmental airways can induce lobar atelectasis for portions of diseased lung. This results in the reduction of hyperinflation along with improvements in diaphragmatic curvature and excursion.

Meta-analysis and Systematic Review of Bronchoscopic Lung Volume Reduction Through Endobronchial Valves in Severe Emphysema

BACKGROUND

Pharmacologic therapeutics for advanced emphysema have limited benefit. Bronchoscopic lung volume reduction with endobronchial valves (EBVs) have reported improvements in lung function, breathlessness, and quality of life through randomized clinical trials, with less morbidity as comparted to Surgical Lung volume Reduction. We here present a Meta-analysis and systematic review of bronchoscopic lung volume reduction in advanced chronic obstructive lung disease patients.

METHODS

PubMed (NLM), Embase (Elsevier), and Web of Science (Clarivate Analytics) search was conducted using a combination of keywords and subject headings. The search was confined to the last 15 years and was completed on October 23, 2020. Only placebo-controlled randomized control trials of emphysema patients with EBV were included. Quality assessment was done by 2 independent reviewers.

RESULTS

Nine studies were included for the meta-analysis with a total number of 1383 patients of whom 888 received EBV and 495 standard of care (SOC) medications. Our Metanalysis show statistically significant improvement in forced expiratory volume in first second, percentage forced expiratory volume in first second, St. George's respiratory questionnaire, and 6-minute walk distance in EBV group compared with SOC. Residual volume had statistically significant reduction after EBV placement compared with SOC. These differences continued to be present during short-term (<=6 mo) and long-term follow-up (>=6 mo). These improvements were even higher when the EBV patients'. Collateral ventilation was negative/fissure was intact (CV-/FI >90%). The rate of hemoptysis and pneumothorax was higher in the EBV group compared with SOC, however, did not lead to increased fatal outcomes.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, EBV has favorable effects on patients' outcomes in patients who have heterogeneous emphysema particularly with no collateral ventilation.

Endobronchial treatment of severe asthma and severe emphysema with hyperinflation

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

The field of interventional pulmonology has ushered in a wave of innovations for individuals with obstructive airways disease in whom established medical therapies have failed. Leading the charge are bronchial thermoplasty for severe refractory asthma and uni-directional valves for severe emphysema with hyperinflation: both have received regulatory approvals in the United Kingdom and United States. With the commissioning of these novel treatments comes new challenges relating to implementation, positioning within therapeutic algorithms, honing of patient selection, and establishing long-term safety and benefits beyond 5 years.

RECENT FINDINGS

This review summarises the evidence for their safety and efficacy, predictors of therapeutic response, mechanism(s) of action and emerging data supporting the durability of outcomes out to at least ten years.

SUMMARY

It is anticipated the experience of treating increasing numbers of patients, the adoption of international registries, and ongoing research evaluations will serve to optimise these therapies for future generations of patients.

Treatment of Dyspnea in Advanced Disease and at the End of Life

Dyspnea is a subjective experience of breathing discomfort that consists of qualitatively distinct sensations, varies in intensity, and can only be known through the patient's report. Dyspnea is akin to suffocation and is one of the most distressing symptoms experienced by patients with advanced illness and at the end of life. Common approaches to dyspnea management, such as pulmonary rehabilitation, breathing strategies, or supplemental oxygen, have become accepted through pragmatic use or because studies do not include dyspnea as a measured outcome. Patients and clinicians urgently need evidence-based treatments to alleviate this frightening symptom. To fill this gap, a group of dyspnea researchers with expertise to conduct a literature review of evidence-based interventions for dyspnea in patients with serious illness produced these guidelines. We present the evidence from the strongest recommendations for practice to the weakest recommendations and include practical considerations for clinical nurses.

Device profile of the Zephyr endobronchial valve in heterogenous emphysema: overview of its safety and efficacy

INTRODUCTION

Emphysema affects millions of people; the underlying pathophysiology is hyperinflation due to destruction of lung parenchyma. The mainstay of treatment is medical therapy however there are two surgical treatment strategies approved by the FDA to reduce lung hyperinflation. First being lung volume reduction surgery (LVRS), which carries higher risk of mortality versus bronchoscopic lung volume reduction (BLVR). BLVR has reduced peri-operative morbidity without compromising improvement in post-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume 1s (FEV1) and patient-reported outcomes. The added benefit of BLVR is that older adults who have end-stage emphysema who otherwise would not be appropriate surgical candidates for LVRS or transplant have an alternative treatment option.

AREAS COVERED

This is a review paper focusing on Zephyr® endobronchial valves (EBV). Specifically, clinical outcomes of major trials, selection criteria, valve/deployment catheter features, description of procedure, discussing the Chartis™ Pulmonary Assessment System and StratX report, management of complications and discussing next steps in protocolizing post-EBV care.

EXPERT OPINION

The expert opinion section focuses on outcomes from the LIBERATE Trial and 1-yr post-hoc analysis. Further 5-year follow-up post Zephyr® EBV placement along with protocolization post-EBV placement are needed to minimize adverse events and/or be able to manage, especially with high risk of pneumothorax (PTX).

Patient Satisfaction and Attainment of Patient-Specific Goals after Endobronchial Valve Treatment

Rationale: Bronchoscopic lung volume reduction with endobronchial valves (EBVs) significantly improves clinical outcomes in patients with severe emphysema. However, patient-reported outcomes like patient satisfaction and patient-specific treatment goals were never investigated.Objectives: To investigate the patient-satisfaction level 1 year after treatment and patient-specific goals before and 1 year after EBV treatment. Furthermore, the study aimed to investigate whether the level of patient satisfaction or change in goals was associated with change in the clinical outcome.Methods: We prospectively included patients who underwent EBV treatment as part of regular care in our hospital and asked patients to report and score their personal treatment goals on the patient-specific complaint (PSC) questionnaire at baseline and after 1 year of follow-up and to complete a patient-satisfaction questionnaire at 1 year of follow-up.Results: Of the 134 patients who were treated with EBV, 109 filled out the patient-satisfaction questionnaire and 88 filled out the PSC questionnaire at baseline and 1 year after treatment. When adjusting for the patients who were lost to follow-up, 91% of the patients in total would recommend the EBV treatment to other patients. Seventy-five percent of the patients were (very) satisfied with the treatment and 11% were (very) unsatisfied. The three most frequently reported patient-specific goals to improve were walking (reported by 77% of the patients), taking a shower/washing/getting dressed (35%), and completing household chores (32%). Both the total PSC questionnaire sum score (mean change, -6.01 ± 6.0) and all individual reported goals significantly improved 1 year after treatment (P < 0.001). Furthermore, a higher patient-satisfaction level and larger improvement in goals was significantly associated with an improvement in forced expiratory volume in 1 second, residual volume, dyspnea severity, and quality of life.Conclusions: We found that the patient-satisfaction level is high and patient-specific goals significantly improve 1 year after EBV treatment. We believe that the individual patient's goals are important in the process of shared decision-making before treatment, as they can be used to identify unrealistic expectations beforehand and prevent disappointment afterward.Clinical trial registered at clinicaltrials.gov (NCT02815683).

Improved Decision-Making Confidence Using Item-Based Pharmacometric Model: Illustration with a Phase II Placebo-Controlled Trial

This study aimed to illustrate how a new methodology to assess clinical trial outcome measures using a longitudinal item response theory–based model (IRM) could serve as an alternative to mixed model repeated measures (MMRM). Data from the EXACT (Exacerbation of chronic pulmonary disease tool) which is used to capture frequency, severity, and duration of exacerbations in COPD were analyzed using an IRM. The IRM included a graded response model characterizing item parameters and functions describing symptom-time course. Total scores were simulated (month 12) using uncertainty in parameter estimates. The 50th (2.5th, 97.5th) percentiles of the resulting simulated differences in average total score (drug minus placebo) represented the estimated drug effect (95%CI), which was compared with published MMRM results. Furthermore, differences in sample size, sensitivity, specificity, and type I and II errors between approaches were explored. Patients received either oral danirixin 75 mg twice daily (n = 45) or placebo (n = 48) on top of standard of care over 52 weeks. A step function best described the COPD symptoms-time course in both trial arms. The IRM improved precision of the estimated drug effect compared to MMRM, resulting in a sample size of 2.5 times larger for the MMRM analysis to achieve the IRM precision. The IRM showed a higher probability of a positive predictive value (34%) than MMRM (22%). An item model–based analysis data gave more precise estimates of drug effect than MMRM analysis for the same endpoint in this one case study.

Thermal Volume Reduction Surgery for Surgical Treatment of Pulmonary Bullae: A Single-Center Treatment Experience of 276 Cases Accompany With Primary Lung Cancer

Objective: Lung volume reduction surgery (LVRS) has been regarded as an effective surgical procedure for severe emphysema (including pulmonary bullae). However, there still remain controversial that its applications limited that only patients with a specific clinical situation may benefit from LVRS, and so did other non-surgical treatments. The current study aims to introduce some initial experience of new technique for treating pulmonary bullae, including using thermal surgical instruments to reduce enlargement of lung tissue in a specific group that diagnosed with lung cancer accompany with pulmonary bullae. Methods: This retrospective study included 276 patients undergoing emphysema reducing surgery between 2010 and 2020. All procedure were performed by thermal volume reduction surgery of using thermal surgical instruments to reduce pulmonary bullae. Results: The average time required for operating single pulmonary bullae was <10 min. Median operative time was 106 min (range 85 to 191 min). No intraoperative air leak, massive blood loss, or other severe complications occurred. The estimated blood loss for TVRS was about 40 ml (range 15 to 120 ml). Postoperative complications included atelectasis (n = 8), pulmonary infection (n = 17), bleeding (n = 5), delayed air leak (n = 7) among the cohort. The postoperative lung function at 1-year post surgery in TVRS group recovered faster with a better recovery that achieving an FEV1 of 1.95 ± 0.46 L, TLC of 6.36 ± 0.79 L, RV of 3.56 ± 0.81 L, PO₂ of 60 ± 8 mmHg, PCO₂ of 37 ± 6 mmHg, and 6 MWD (6-min walk distant) of 305 ± 22 m. The 1-year QOL score was elevated comparing with preoperative period. Conclusion: This single-center study reported a new thermal-based surgical approach to treat pulmonary bullae by reducing abnormally enlarged lung tissue in specific patients diagnosed with lung cancer accompany with pulmonary bullae.

Targeting Aging Pathways in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has become a global epidemic and is the third leading cause of death worldwide. COPD is characterized by chronic airway inflammation, loss of alveolar-capillary units, and progressive decline in lung function. Major risk factors for COPD are cigarette smoking and aging. COPD-associated pathomechanisms include multiple aging pathways such as telomere attrition, epigenetic alterations, altered nutrient sensing, mitochondrial dysfunction, cell senescence, stem cell exhaustion and chronic inflammation. In this review, we will highlight the current literature that focuses on the role of age and aging-associated signaling pathways as well as their impact on current treatment strategies in the pathogenesis of COPD. Furthermore, we will discuss established and experimental COPD treatments including senolytic and anti-aging therapies and their potential use as novel treatment strategies in COPD.