You may have seen recent newspaper reports about French researchers who have tested a technique involving inserting small coils through a scope into the lungs with the objective of tightening diseased tissue and open up healthy airways.
Professor Brown from Breathing Matters comments, ‘Using coils inserted into the airways of the lung to help patients with emphysema has been researched for a few years now, and the evidence does suggest they can improve some patients’ breathing. They do this by blocking airflow to parts of the lung that have been particularly badly affected by emphysema, which allows more air to get to parts of the lung that have not been so badly affected. However, they are really only useful for a very small proportion of patients with COPD, and I do worry they might increase the risk of pneumonia as they might prevent the lungs from clearing bacteria.’
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