O9. Surgery

In selected patients, a surgical approach may be considered for symptom relief (Benditt and Albert, 1997), (Mehran and Deslauriers, 1995), (Cooper et al., 1995), (Geddes et al., 2000), (Fishman et al., 2003) [evidence level III-2]

None of the current surgical approaches in patients with COPD provides a survival advantage. (NHLBI/WHO Workshop Report, April 2001),(Benditt and Albert, 1997) In view of the potential for serious morbidity and mortality, all surgical treatments require careful assessment by an experienced thoracic medical and surgical team.