Health Information
COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease)
Surgery
Lung surgery is rarely used to treat COPD. Surgery is never the first treatment choice and is only considered for people who have severe COPD that has not improved with other treatment.
Surgery choices
- Reference Lung volume reduction surgery removes part of one or both lungs, making room for the rest of the lung to work better. It is used only for some types of severe emphysema.Reference 10
- Reference Lung transplant replaces a sick lung with a healthy lung from a person who has just died.
- Reference Bullectomy removes the part of the lung that has been damaged by the formation of large, air-filled sacs called bullae. This surgery is rarely done.
| By: | Reference Healthwise Staff | Last Revised: Reference October 16, 2012 |
| Medical Review: | Reference E. Gregory Thompson, MD - Internal Medicine
Reference Ken Y. Yoneda, MD - Pulmonology |
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