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Objective Bronchoscopic lung volume reduction (BLVR) using a one-way endobronchial valve (EBV) can provide clinically meaningful benefits to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. Although the Japanese Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency approved EBVs in November 2022, information regarding the number of Japanese patients with severe COPD eligible for BLVR treatment is still lacking. We therefore screened computed tomography (CT) images of patients with severe COPD using a quantitative CT (QCT) analysis to estimate the proportion of candidates eligible for BLVR treatment with an EBV. Methods CT scans of COPD patients with Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) stages 3 and 4 were retrospectively analyzed using QCT to evaluate fissure integrity and tissue destruction. The difference in volume-weighted percentage was measured using the density scores of the target lobe and ipsilateral non-target lobe at -910 Hounsfield units. The target lobe was defined as the most affected lobe, with an emphysema destruction score of >50% for each patient. Results High-resolution CT scans of 32 patients (GOLD 3=19, GOLD 4=13) were analyzed. The target lobe could not be identified in 1 patient, whereas the target lobes for 8 patients were not surrounded by fissures with ≥80% completeness. Conversely, in 13 patients, the target lobes were surrounded by fissures with >95% completeness. The remaining 10 patients had fissure completeness between 80% and 95% at the target lobes and were considered candidates for collateral ventilation assessment. Conclusion A QCT analysis showed that 23 of 32 patients with severe COPD could be considered for a thorough examination of BLVR treatment with EBV.
Mineshita et al. (Thu,) studied this question.