I have not had the procedure, but I've been following the progress of all the vents, valves, steam and glue variations that have been clinically trialed in the US since about 2002. The Zephyr valves have been approved for use int he US for about three years years, and there are a number of centers across the country that perform the procedure.

Your best bet for learning about the procedure is to go to the Pulmonx website. That's the company that manufactures the valves and developed the evaluation procedure to determine whether someone's a good candidate or not. Then find a center where you think you might have the procedure done. Get a referral and go for the evaluation process. At that point you'll have a chance to ask all the pertinent questions: how many procedures have you done? How many people had pneumonia or pneumothorax after the procedure? How many recovered? Can I talk to some of the people who've had the procedure?

Remember that each center is a bit different. The docs are different and the procedures may differ a bit. Your best bet is to find a center that participated in the clinical trials held in the US prior to FDA approval. Those docs are by far the most experienced and have managed every kind of unexpected event in the operating theatre. You need to do some research and get a good grounding in what's supposed to occur; then you'll have the information necessary to ask questions that can inform your decision.

By all means, talk with people who've had the procedure. Just remember that a lot depends on where you have it, who does it and how well they follow the protocols.

Hi DebbMcVay !
Is called the zephyr valve group ?
Thank you !

@lanapatlana, the valves require a comprehensive evaluation prior to accepting the patient as being eligible to receive them. It may be that the evaluation data wasn't interpreted correctly or that the tests weren't done properly, so the patient was viewed as a good candidate when in fact they weren't at all. Possible? Yes, but not likely. Pneumothorax is a known and common risk of the valves being placed, along with pneumonia. As the previous poster has indicated, not all centers have docs who have done hundreds or thousands of these procedures: new docs have to learn by watching and then doing under supervision. It's a chance you take any time you have any surgical procedure; unless you ask, you have no idea whether you're the first or the most recent in a long line of procedures the doc has done. Due diligence is required in this as in all things and then the patient has to decide if the risks are worth the potential rewards..

There is always the chance that the procedure won't do what the patient and doc both hope it will do even though everything seems to be a perfect match. That's luck of the draw and in the category of life happens. The point is that it's quite possible everything was done perfectly and you still had a not so good outcome. It happens.

Thanks JoanneC !
I just thought they should all know how to do it right if they’re going to do it, js.

Not so shameful, @ChristineHerwerdine, but more a reasonable thought when tech is so very new. Everyone has to learn, and doc’s have to keep on learning as ideas for treatments evolve.

It’s the same logic behind heart procedures like stents. You’d much rather go to a doc with 200 or more such surgeries under their belt than to deal with someone who only does a few stent implants each year.