Some patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, are breathing easier thanks to new technology in the form of a small valve inserted in the lung.
Paula Dote had the Zephyr valves inserted in her lungs two years ago. Dote, 77, was a smoker for more than 50 years, which doctors say caused her COPD.
Dote also owned and ran several restaurants for 40 years, but was sidelined from the job she loved, when talking with customers became too much.
“It got to the point that when they would come to the restaurant, I couldn’t even talk to them. I didn’t have enough breath,” Dote said.
Dote’s doctor referred her to Dr. Benjamin Seides, a pulmonologist with the Northwestern Medicine Canning Thoracic Institute, who had started using the Zephyr Endobronchial Valve to help a certain subset of COPD patients.
“This fills a really large, and previously unmet, need of patients who are beyond sort of medical management, but aren’t quite at the level of a lung transplant,” Dr. Seides said.
A typical patient may need anywhere from three to seven Zephyr valves, which are placed in the lungs during a procedure that lasts less than an hour.
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“It’s a one-way valve that allows air to escape from the bad lung, but doesn’t allow air to go back into that bad part of the lung,” Dr. Seides said, explaining how the valves help the healthy parts of the lung function more efficiently.
Dr. Seides has helped more than 100 patients breathe easier with this new technology.
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“For certain people, these valves have been dramatically life changing,” Dr. Seides said.
One of those patients is Dote, who is now able to cook with her husband of 40 years, Carl, go on family outings with her kids and grandkids and go dancing at a local establishment’s Disco Night, once a month.
“I’m never gonna run a marathon. Never. But I’m going to do everything I have to do to live my life feeling like I do right now,” Dote said.