COPD & Emphysema Support Group
COPD is a progressive disease characterized by airflow obstruction or limitation. Emphysema is characterized by loss of elasticity of the lung tissue, destruction of structures supporting the alveoli and of capillaries feeding the alveoli. Both have symptoms that include shortness of breath, among other respiratory troubles. If you are a COPD or Emphysema sufferer, join...
Has any one had this surgery? I would like to hear what you have to say about it. Good or bad!
I haven't had a LVRS.
We had 1 person on the board that did. I haven't seen her online lately, but my prayers are with her that she is doing well. Maybe she will see your post so i'm "bumping" it up.
When I 1st join the board there was a lot of talk of LVRS, but I don't hear much about it any more.
I think the "coils" and "valves" procedures that are being tested may outdate the reduction.
All have the same basic principles of "blocking off" the bad/disease portion of the lung so to good portion can work better.
We have had 1 member do each of the surgeries.
I believe the member that had the LVRS did quite well.
The one that did the Valve surgery was going in May, and I haven't heard how he's doing.
I had coils & seems to be doing great last I heard.
Hopefully, we can get an update from our 3 members who have tried these surgeries.
With our many new members these procedures may be options they didn't know about.
LVRS= http://www.webmd.com/lung/tc/copd-lung-volume-reduction-syndrome-topic-overview
Valve= http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/778725_3
Coil= http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/835860
the one line should read the "1 that had coils..." not "I had coils...."
I am interested in this post also. I have not had the procedure but had a ct scan today and an appt with the pulmo next week. That will be something we will talk about. I have a large bullea in my upper right lung.
They are doing studies on the coil and valve procedures but I did not qualify. I hear they are having very good results with it though and there is a good chance it will go to market after the first of the year.
Kind of waiting to see if the coil procedure does come out of the study phase which would mean they wouldn't have to follow such strict guidelines and I might be a candidate :)
There are alot of very nice and knowledgeable people on this site so hopefully someone will be able to help you more.
I searched LVRS here at DS and found a couple of posts:
http://www.dailystrength.org/c/COPD-Emphysema/recs/4241-aetna-lvrs-clinical-data See Reply # 5
http://www.dailystrength.org/c/COPD_Emphysema/forum/17593013-lvrs-lung-reduction-volume-surgery See Reply # 3
2015 ...Yes, after 18 months of trials and tribulations the LVRC is finally completed and so very happy I went through it. The results are remarkable and hopefully this will carry me for as long as I can make it happen in order to assume a semi normal quality of life. The procedure is legal in Europe since 2007 and perhaps there's a clinic in Oz that has the facilities to perform this. You can go on YouTube and see the procedure with the Dr and staff from Amsterdam.
My Dr asked me to take it slow and easy for the first week but I could resume my normal daily routines, monitor my O2 levels and of course, get back to him in case of any abnormal changes in my breathing.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.
On the sad side, there were a couple of us chatting LIVE to a member in the UK while he was in hospital , waiting to be wheeled in....We were there as support as he was very nervous, as you can imagine.....
After he went into surgery we stopped till the next day when he checked back in.....He was quite happy but said he did not feel real well but the nurses were being bossy about it......he seemed in good spirits......A bit later we heard he had passed suddenly....The cause was infection.....It really shook us all up.....
So nothing is certain whether we operate, get new lungs or artificial thingy's......For me i do not fit any of the criteria and will just carry on j like i always have.......
Hugs...
the "1" that had coils" would be me. It took 20 months to finally finish the entire LVRC clinical trial and I have one last Dr appointment and a battery of tests Oct. 20th before the cut me loose and then I have a check up annually. My "quality of life" has made a 180* turn around and highly endorse the LVRC. I stayed away from the LVRS because I wasn't impressed with the results. Good luck.