Lung volume reduction surgery in a ventilated patient with severe pulmonary emphysema

There are a limited number of reports in the literature cocerning lung volume reduction surgery in patients receiving mechanical ventilation. We present a case in which a ventilator-dependent patient with apparent end-stage pulmonary emphysema underwent lung volume reduction with a successful outcome. Although the role of this procedure for selected nonventilated patients has been widely discussed its use in ventilated patients is still not clearly defined. We show that lung volume reduction surgery may facilitate ventilatory weaning in such cases and improve functional status.