Lung Volume Reduction Surgery in Selected Patients With Emphysema and Pulmonary Hypertension

Pulmonary hypertension is considered a contraindication for lung volume reduction surgery. Caviezel and colleagues evaluated outcomes of lung volume reduction performed in 30 patients with emphysema, 10 of whom had mild-to-moderate pulmonary hypertension. At the authors’ center, pulmonary hypertension was a contraindication for patients with homogeneous, but not heterogeneous, emphysema. There was no 90-day mortality, and the postoperative course did not differ between patients with and without pulmonary hypertension. The authors conclude that mild-to-moderate pulmonary hypertension might not be a contraindication for lung volume reduction surgery and encourage further confirmation in other studies.