New endobronchial valve procedure gives chronic COPD patient his life back

From Geisinger media

Rodney Gordner of Millville was a smoker for 50 years and worked around some pretty dangerous industrial hazards during his time working in factories and other jobs. His lungs took the brunt of it.

At 72 years old, he was living with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and was unable to do anything without oxygen and found it difficult to do things while carrying a 20-pound portable oxygen concentrator around.

“I didn’t get to go fishing last year,” he says. “The portable concentrator made it hard to enjoy life. Dragging it around tired me out even sooner.”

Gordner is among more than 15 million Americans who have COPD, and of those, more than 20 percent have emphysema. Severe disease can cause air to become trapped in parts of the lung that are severely damaged, preventing new air from getting in. Trapped air makes the lungs larger and puts pressure on the diaphragm, making it difficult to breathe or catch one’s breath. There are few treatment options for these patients and there is no cure.

He looked for solutions and even considered looking into a lung transplant or lung volume reduction surgery, where bad parts of the lung are removed, but both surgeries carry high morbidity and mortality rates.

His pulmonary provider, Lynn Bingaman, CRNP, talked to him about a less-invasive procedure placing endobronchial valves in the lungs to help air redistribution and making breathing easier. Bingaman then referred him to Dr. Ngoc-Tram Ha, Geisinger director of interventional pulmonology.

“Mr. Gordner had severe COPD, which caused a limitation to his regular daily activities, which seem basic to most, but hindered his quality of life,” said Dr. Ha. “After testing we determined that Rodney was a good candidate for the procedure and was also very motivated to get better and had recently completed pulmonary rehabilitation.”

Using the endobronchial valves Dr. Ha, Geisinger director of interventional pulmonology, was able to place an endobronchial valve device in Rodney’s airway allowing air to be diverted to less-diseased parts of the lung. The procedure took pressure off of Gordner’s diaphragm, making it easier for him to breathe.

Although the extreme hot temperatures have been keeping Gordner, and most residents in central Pennsylvania, indoors seeking air conditioning, he has noticed an incredible difference.

“It’s tremendous. I no longer have to carry oxygen,” Rodney says. “I can walk further and do more things. The humidity still really affects me, but I have been able to work in my garden in the mornings, and I have been fishing this year.”

Dr. Ha is very excited with Gordner’s progress and is really happy he has been able to improve his quality of life.

“Mr. Gordner had a very positive outcome from the procedure. He had a clinically significant improvement in his lung function and no longer requires supplemental oxygen with activity as he did prior to the procedure,” she said.

Gordner is happy to literally be able to breathe a little easier.

“It has definitely taken the burden off,” he says. “I can breathe better and deeper.”