Review Article


Bronchoscopic interventions for severe COPD

Robert F. Browning, Scott Parrish, Saiyad Sarkar, William Krimsky, J. Francis Turner Jr., Konstantinos Zarogoulidis, Ioanna Kougioumtzi, Georgios Dryllis, Ioannis Kioumis, Georgia Pitsiou, Nikolaos Machairiotis, Nikolaos Katsikogiannis, Nikolaos Courcoutsakis, Athanasios Madesis, Konstantinos Diplaris, Theodoros Karaiskos, Paul Zarogoulidis

Abstract

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) causes severe handicap among smokers. Most patients have to remain under continuous oxygen therapy at home. Moreover, respiratory infections are very common among these patients and vaccination is obligatory against influenza. Emphysema and bronchiectasis are observed with computed tomography (CT) and in several situations these parenchymal damages are responsible for pneumothorax in one case and pseudomonas aeroginosa infection. Novel miniinvasive techniques are used currently for emphysema treatments which are described extensively throughout our current work.

Download Citation