Valve therapy in patients with emphysematous type of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD): from randomized trials to patient selection in clinical practice

The Use of Bronchial Rheoplasty in Emphysema Patients Previously Treated with Endoscopic Lung Volume Reduction: A Case Series

Endoscopic lung volume reduction (ELVR) is an established treatment option for patients with severe emphysema. Not all patients are candidates for this type of intervention, and in the context of significant airway secretions, they may be excluded from treatment. Bronchial Rheoplasty (BR) was developed to treat mucus hypersecretion by delivering nonthermal pulsed electric fields to the airway epithelium and submucosa. The literature to date demonstrates that patients treated with BR in clinical studies have a reduction in airway goblet cell hyperplasia as well as substantive clinical improvement in the setting of chronic bronchitis (CB). In this case series, we present four patients treated at three different institutions who had previously undergone ELVR with beneficial outcome. However, over time, these patients subsequently developed worsening clinical issues, including complaints of increased and thickened mucus, along with exacerbations in the setting of a loss of some ELVR-associated benefits. These patients then underwent exploratory treatment with BR with the intent of reducing their secretion burden and potentially restoring the efficacy associated with the initial placement of the airway valves. All BR procedures were well tolerated, and three of the four patients showed substantial improvement in their symptom burden. Airway examinations during the second of the two BR procedures also revealed what appeared to be less airway mucosal inflammation and a decrease in the quantity of airway secretions. Therefore, treatment with BR may have the potential to improve and restore the initial benefits associated with ELVR, thus enhancing long-term outcomes. Further clinical studies with sufficient follow-up are warranted to assess this in a larger cohort of patients, and to determine whether treatment with BR prior to ELVR may make more patients eligible for this treatment through reduction in their secretions and/or symptoms.

Efficacy and safety of simultaneous combined Zephyr and Spiration valve therapy in patients with advanced pulmonary emphysema

BACKGROUND

Endoscopic lung volume reduction with valves is a minimally invasive treatment strategy for patients with severe pulmonary emphysema. Two valve systems are currently available: Zephyr and Spiration valves. As these can be implanted simultaneously in the same procedure, the question arose as to the effect on lung function, exercise capacity and subjective disease perception after combined valve treatment.

METHODS

We conducted a retrospective analysis of 108 patients with combined, simultaneous treatment of Zephyr and Spiration valves. The decision on which and how many valves to implant was based on the individual patient anatomy. Effects on lung function, exercise capacity and atelectasis formation as well as complications were evaluated 90- and 180-days post-treatment (90d-FU and 180d-FU).

RESULTS

At 90d-FU (n=90), the mean change was 86.7±183.7mL for FEV1 and -645.3±1276.5mL for RV, with responder rates of 39.8% and 46.5%, respectively. Complete atelectasis occurred in 16.7% and partial atelectasis in 25.5% of patients. Six-minute walking distance increased by 27.00 m [-1.50 - 68.50m]. The rates of pneumothorax (10.2%) 6 months after treatment were not higher than in randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Likely due to the inclusion of high-risk patients, there was a higher incidence of severe COPD exacerbation (21.3%) and pneumonia (12.0%) compared to RCTs.

CONCLUSIONS

The combined implantation of Zephyr and Spiration valves resulted in significant clinical and functional improvements with an acceptable risk profile. Therefore, the ability to combine both valve types in severe emphysema could be a promising option in endoscopic lung volume reduction.

Management of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Exacerbations in Hospitalized Patients From Admission to Discharge: A Comprehensive Review of Therapeutic Interventions

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common and debilitating condition that often necessitates hospitalization for exacerbations. Since COPD exacerbations can cause significant morbidity and mortality, managing them is crucial for patient care. Effective management of COPD exacerbations is essential to prevent complications, as COPD exacerbations are associated with increased healthcare costs and decreased quality of life. This review aims to comprehensively discuss the management of COPD exacerbations, covering various pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic strategies. These include inhaled bronchodilators, systemic steroids, antibiotics, invasive and non-invasive ventilation, oxygen therapy, smoking cessation, immunization with pneumococcal vaccine, inhalers at discharge, pulmonary rehabilitation, long-term oxygen therapy (LTOT), ambulatory oxygen therapy, short-burst oxygen therapy, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), lung volume reduction surgery (LVRS), endobronchial procedures, and lung transplant. It is drawn upon various sources, including clinical studies, systemic reviews, and observational studies, to provide a comprehensive overview of current practices and identify areas for future research and innovation in managing COPD exacerbations. Addressing these areas of interest can improve patient outcomes and quality of life.

Economic Considerations of Lung Volume Reduction Surgery and Bronchoscopic Valves

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a challenging disease to treat, and at advanced stages of the disease, procedural interventions become some of the only effective methods for improving quality of life. However, these procedures are often very costly. This article reviews the medical literature on cost-effectiveness of lung volume reduction surgery and bronchoscopic valve placement for lung volume reduction. It discusses the anticipated costs and economic impact in the future as technique is perfected and outcomes are improved.

Role of Imaging in Bronchoscopic Lung Volume Reduction Using Endobronchial Valve: State of the Art Review

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is becoming one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity throughout the world. The National Emphysema Treatment Trial demonstrated that lung volume reduction surgery can improve pulmonary function, exercise capacity, and quality of life in select subgroups of patients with COPD. In recent years, few bronchoscopic lung volume reduction (BLVR) procedures have undergone clinical trials with the goal of establishing an effective and safe alternative approach for reducing hyperinflation in patients with severe emphysema who are symptomatic despite optimal medical management, but are poor surgical candidates. Of these BLVR procedures, only deployment of 1-way endobronchial valves (EBVs) has the largest pool of scientific data available to date to support its clinical utility. Two EBV systems have been food and drug administration-approved within the last year to meet the clinical demands of this select group of patients with COPD. On the basis of the results of multiple randomized clinical trials, the recommendations of the original 2016 Expert Panel Report on BLVR usage criteria of EBV have been updated in 2019. The outcome of EBV therapy is maximized in certain image-based COPD phenotypes. Imaging plays a major role in patient selection, target lobe identification, and in the management of postprocedural adverse events. With the expected widespread use of EBV therapy in the coming years, knowledge and familiarity of the Role of Imaging in BLVR using EBVs is essential for radiologists attempting to make meaningful contribution toward improving clinical outcomes.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease - diagnosis and management of stable disease; a personalized approach to care, using the treatable traits concept based on clinical phenotypes. Position paper of the Czech Pneumological and Phthisiological Society

This position paper has been drafted by experts from the Czech national board of diseases with bronchial obstruction, of the Czech Pneumological and Phthisiological Society. The statements and recommendations are based on both the results of randomized controlled trials and data from cross-sectional and prospective real-life studies to ensure they are as close as possible to the context of daily clinical practice and the current health care system of the Czech Republic. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a preventable and treatable heterogeneous syndrome with a number of pulmonary and extrapulmonary clinical features and concomitant chronic diseases. The disease is associated with significant mortality, morbidity and reduced quality of life. The main characteristics include persistent respiratory symptoms and only partially reversible airflow obstruction developing due to an abnormal inflammatory response of the lungs to noxious particles and gases. Oxidative stress, protease-antiprotease imbalance and increased numbers of pro-inflammatory cells (mainly neutrophils) are the main drivers of primarily non-infectious inflammation in COPD. Besides smoking, household air pollution, occupational exposure, low birth weight, frequent respiratory infections during childhood and also genetic factors are important risk factors of COPD development. Progressive airflow limitation and airway remodelling leads to air trapping, static and dynamic hyperinflation, gas exchange abnormalities and decreased exercise capacity. Various features of the disease are expressed unequally in individual patients, resulting in various types of disease presentation, emerging as the "clinical phenotypes" (for specific clinical characteristics) and "treatable traits" (for treatable characteristics) concept. The estimated prevalence of COPD in Czechia is around 6.7% with 3,200-3,500 deaths reported annually. The elementary requirements for diagnosis of COPD are spirometric confirmation of post-bronchodilator airflow obstruction (post-BD FEV₁/VCmax <70%) and respiratory symptoms assessement (dyspnoea, exercise limitation, cough and/or sputum production. In order to establish definite COPD diagnosis, a five-step evaluation should be performed, including: 1/ inhalation risk assessment, 2/ symptoms evaluation, 3/ lung function tests, 4/ laboratory tests and 5/ imaging. At the same time, all alternative diagnoses should be excluded. For disease classification, this position paper uses both GOLD stages (1 to 4), GOLD groups (A to D) and evaluation of clinical phenotype(s). Prognosis assessment should be done in each patient. For this purpose, we recommend the use of the BODE or the CADOT index. Six elementary clinical phenotypes are recognized, including chronic bronchitis, frequent exacerbator, emphysematous, asthma/COPD overlap (ACO), bronchiectases with COPD overlap (BCO) and pulmonary cachexia. In our concept, all of these clinical phenotypes are also considered independent treatable traits. For each treatable trait, specific pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies are defined in this document. The coincidence of two or more clinical phenotypes (i.e., treatable traits) may occur in a single individual, giving the opportunity of fully individualized, phenotype-specific treatment. Treatment of COPD should reflect the complexity and heterogeneity of the disease and be tailored to individual patients. Major goals of COPD treatment are symptom reduction and decreased exacerbation risk. Treatment strategy is divided into five strata: risk elimination, basic treatment, phenotype-specific treatment, treatment of respiratory failure and palliative care, and treatment of comorbidities. Risk elimination includes interventions against tobacco smoking and environmental/occupational exposures. Basic treatment is based on bronchodilator therapy, pulmonary rehabilitation, vaccination, care for appropriate nutrition, inhalation training, education and psychosocial support. Adequate phenotype-specific treatment varies phenotype by phenotype, including more than ten different pharmacological and non-pharmacological strategies. If more than one clinical phenotype is present, treatment strategy should follow the expression of each phenotypic label separately. In such patients, multicomponental therapeutic regimens are needed, resulting in fully individualized care. In the future, stronger measures against smoking, improvements in occupational and environmental health, early diagnosis strategies, as well as biomarker identification for patients responsive to specific treatments are warranted. New classes of treatment (inhaled PDE3/4 inhibitors, single molecule dual bronchodilators, anti-inflammatory drugs, gene editing molecules or new bronchoscopic procedures) are expected to enter the clinical practice in a very few years.

Endobronchial valve therapy for severe emphysema: an overview of valve-related complications and its management

INTRODUCTION

Bronchoscopic lung volume reduction treatment with one-way valves is an effective guideline treatment option for patients with severe emphysema. However, important challenges and adverse reactions may occur after treatment.

AREAS COVERED

This review summarizes the complications after endobronchial and intrabronchial valve treatment that have been described by the currently published randomized controlled trials and other relevant papers regarding the complications and its management. In case there was no relevant literature regarding these subjects, recommendations are based on expert opinion. Complications include pneumothorax, post-obstruction pneumonia and hemoptysis. Also, the treatment may not be effective due to the presence of collateral ventilation or misplaced valves. Furthermore, an initial beneficial effect may vanish due to granulation tissue formation, valve dysfunction or valve migration. Careful follow-up after treatment with valves is important. Evaluation with a CT-scan and/or bronchoscopy is needed if there is no improvement after treatment, loss of benefit, or occurrence of important adverse events during follow-up.

EXPERT OPINION

Treating severe emphysema patients with one-way valves requires continuous dedication and expertise, especially to achieve an optimal outcome and elegantly deal with the various complications after treatment.

Spontaneous pneumothorax in a single lung transplant recipient-a blessing in disguise: A case report

BACKGROUND

End-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the common lung diseases referred for lung transplantation. According to the international society of heart and lung transplantation, 30% of all lung transplantations are carried out for COPD alone. When compared to bilateral lung transplant, single-lung transplant (SLT) has similar short-term and medium-term results for COPD. For patients with severe upper lobe predominant emphysema, lung volume reduction surgery is an excellent alternative which results in improvement in functional status and long-term mortality. In 2018, endobronchial valves were approved by the Food and Drug Administration for severe upper lobe predominant emphysema as they demonstrated improvement in lung function, exercise capacity, and quality of life. However, the role of endobronchial valves in native lung emphysema in SLT patients has not been studied.

CASE SUMMARY

We describe an unusual case of severe emphysema who underwent a successful SLT 15 years ago and had gradual worsening of lung function suggestive of chronic lung allograft dysfunction. However, her lung function improved significantly after a spontaneous pneumothorax of the native lung resulting in auto-deflation of large bullae.

CONCLUSION

This case highlights the clinical significance of native lung hyperinflation in single lung transplant recipient and how spontaneous decompression due to pneumothorax led to clinical improvement in our patient.

Efficacy of the Spiration Valve System in Patients with Severe Heterogeneous Emphysema: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND

Spiration Valve System (SVS) is an alternative for patients with severe heterogeneous emphysema; however, data about efficacy from randomized controlled trials (RCT) are unclear.

OBJECTIVES

To explore both efficacy and safety of SVS in patients with severe emphysema and hyperinflation.

METHODS

We included PubMed, EMBASE, Coch-rane database. All searches were performed until August 2019. Only RCTs were included for analysis. Risk of bias was assessed using Cochrane risk of bias tool. A meta-analysis evaluated change in forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), 6-min walking test (6MWT), residual volume, modified medical research council (mMRC) and Saint George respiratory questionnaire (SGRQ), all-cause mortality, risk of pneumothorax, and risk of acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD). Quality of the evidence was rated using GRADE approach.

RESULTS

Four RCTs including 629 subjects were included. SVS showed an overall change of 0.03 L (-0.07 to 0.13, I2 = 90%) in the in FEV1 (L) and a 2.03% (-2.50 to 6.57, I2 = 96%) in the predicted FEV1 (%) compared to baseline; however, studies without collateral ventilation (CV) showed an improvement of 0.12 L (95% CI 0.09-0.015, I2 = 0%), This subgroup also reported better results in SGRQ -12.27 points (95% CI -15.84 to -8.70, I2 = 0%) and mMRC -0.54 (95% CI -0.74 to -0.33, I2 = 0%). We found no benefit in 6MWT mean difference = 4.56 m (95% CI -21.88 to 31.00, I2 = 73%). Relative risk of mortality was 2.54 (95% CI 0.81-7.96, I2 = 0%), for pneumothorax 3.3 (95% CI 0.61-18.12, I2 = 0%) and AECOPD 1.68 (95% CI 1.04-2.70, I2 = 0%).

CONCLUSION

In patients with severe heterogeneous emphysema and hyperinflation without CV, SVS is an alternative that showed an improvement in pulmonary function, quality of life, and dyspnea score with an acceptable risk profile.

Indications for lung transplant referral and listing

Lung transplantation is a valuable therapeutic option for many patients with severe lung disease who have exhausted other medical or surgical therapies. However, since lungs are not a manufacturable organ like artificial heart valves or left ventricular assist devices, and since they are a limited resource compared to number of patients requiring the organs, the Department of Health and Human Services set the Final Rule of organ allocation in 1998. This led to development and implementation of Lung Allocation Score (LAS) in 2005. The score broadly divides lung diseases into 4 diagnostic criteria with a coefficient factor given to each category. The score is based on the prognostic factors of each patient to determine the risk of mortality without a transplant combined with the probability of patient survival post-transplant. Most of the guidelines for "Indications for referral and listing in lung transplant" is based on consensus opinion as there is limited amount of robust data and trials about this topic. The International Society for Heart and Lung Transplant (ISHLT) has published three editions for candidate selection and listing. In this article, we have attempted to highlight the guidelines and incorporated other disease specific prognostic factors that are not captured in the LAS. Ultimately, there are other factors like geographic location, height, blood group, preformed antibodies, transplant center experience, past wait times and transplant rate, availability of organs, etc., which also play a role especially when considering listing a patient for lung transplant. We also highlighted a representative disease in each category and most criteria for that disease will apply to other diseases in that category. Finally, this article does not delve into the history and reasoning behind each guideline but is meant to provide a general overview of indications and contraindications applicable in the field of adult lung transplantation.

Bronchoscopic lung volume reduction using an endobronchial valve to treat a huge emphysematous bullae: a case report

BACKGROUND

In patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), bronchoscopic lung volume reduction (BLVR) techniques using unidirectional endobronchial valves improve lung function and increase exercise tolerance. BLVR treatment is included in the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) treatment guidelines for COPD patients without interlobar collateral ventilation. However, BLVR using an endobronchial valve has not been attempted in patients with giant bullae.

CASE PRESENTATION

We report successful and safe BLVR using an endobronchial valve in a patient with a huge bullous emphysema in the right middle lobe. A 65-year-old male was diagnosed with COPD 5 years prior and had a large bullae in the right middle lobe at that time. During regular follow-up, the symptoms of respiratory distress gradually worsened, and the size of the bullae gradually increased on computed tomography (CT). Therefore, we decided to treat the patient via BLVR using an unidirectional endobronchial valve. The Chartis system (Pulmonx, Inc., Palo Alto, CA) confirmed the absence of collateral ventilation of the right middle lobe. We successfully inserted an endobronchial valve into the right middle bronchus. After insertion, the bullae decreased dramatically in size, and the patient's symptoms and quality of life improved markedly.

CONCLUSION

This case supports recent suggestions that BLVR can serve as a good alternative treatment for appropriately selected patients.