Clinical Trials for Emphysema Treatment
John C. Lincoln North Mountain Hospital
250 E. Dunlap Ave.
Phoenix, AZ 85020
Location map and driving directions
Call 602-943-1111 for a referral to a pulmonary specialist
At the Advanced Pulmonary Program, located on the campus of John C. Lincoln North Mountain Hospital, physicians are leading clinical tests of two procedures that seem to promise relief from emphysema.
John C. Lincoln North Mountain Hospital is the only hospital in Arizona to be housing a series of lung disease research studies. Both studies are "double blind," which means neither patients nor researchers know at the time whether patients received treatment or were given a placebo.
Research Focused on "Lung Elasticity"
The basis of this emphysema treatment research is one fundamental idea: for effective breathing, we need space to inhale new oxygen-rich air. How well we breathe depends on lung tissue elasticity.
For More Information
Patients interested in these trials should contact Pulmonary Associates at
602-346-4747
When healthy, our lungs allow pulmonary air sacs to expand as we inhale and shrink to force exhaled air out.
When elasticity is lost—because of emphysema or other chronic obstructive pulmonary disease—air cannot effectively be exhaled.
A form of COPD (chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease), emphysema is a disease characterized by chronic, progressive, and irreversible destruction of lung tissue.
As patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) gasp to inhale new air, damaged lung tissue becomes overinflated. Dysfunctional air sacs prevent new air from being inhaled. Overinflated tissue reduces space that could be used to inhale new air by the remaining healthy lung tissue.
Aeris Therapeutics Biologic Lung Volume Reduction System (BLVR)
BLVR tests whether breathing improves when medication shrinks hyperinflated lung tissue. The study also tests whether the BLVR medication is more effective than invasive surgical procedures currently used to excise diseased lung tissue.
A bronchoscope delivers precisely portioned biodegradable gel to the most damaged areas of the lung. The gel collapses diseased tissue, thus providing more space within the chest for the remaining healthier parts of the lung to function.
The project has earned the Federal Drug Administration's "Fast Track" designation reserved for programs that demonstrate a potential solution to serious or life-threatening conditions. More information on the BLVR clinical trial can be found here.
Exhale Airway Stents for Emphysema (EASE)
Rather than shrinking hyperinflated lung tissue with medication, the EASE study simply lets the air out. The minimally invasive, one- to two-hour procedure uses a bronchoscope to create six new pathways between damaged tissue and the natural airway.
The new pathways are kept open by Exhale Drug-Eluting Stents, through which trapped air exits.
The airway bypass procedure may be a viable option for persons who are not suitable candidates for lung transplant surgery, or who would possibly spend years on a lung transplant list. More information on the EASE clinical trial can be found here.
The Zephyr Endobronchial One-Way Valve
A third pulmonary research study completed at North Mountain by Pulmonary Associates tested Emphasys Medical’s Zephyr Endobronchial One-Way Valve. This minimally invasive treatment uses a bronchoscope to implant a one-way valve that lets trapped air escape from diseased areas of the lung, without letting new air into hyperinflated lung tissue.
John C. Lincoln participated in the pivotal clinical trials of the valve. It is anticipated that the Food and Drug Administration will approve use of this procedure for patients with obstructive pulmonary diseases in early 2009.