Endobronchial coils – therapeutic innovations for severe emphysema

Abstract

Emphysema is a frequent phenotypic manifestation of chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases which does not respond to pharmacotherapy. Interventional methods can provide relief for severely ill and highly symptomatic emphysema patients. A quite well studied endoscopic method is the minimally invasive, non-surgical procedure with coils. Coils are small, shape-memory Nitinol implants designed to gather and compress lung tissue, re-tension the diseased airway network and increase the elastic recoil in the emphysematous lung. To date, the positive benefit-risk ratio of coils is documented by several well-designed randomized clinical trials.