Researchers at Peoria Pulmonary Associates to study airway bypass procedure for...( Peoria IL. January 28 2008 Research...),Health

Peoria IL., January 28, 2008 Researchers at Peoria Pulmonary Associates today announced the start of the EASE (Exhale Airway Stents for Emphysema) Trial, an international, multi-center clinical trial to explore an investigational procedure for advanced widespread emphysema/COPD. Conducted at Methodist Medical Center, the study focuses on a procedure called airway bypass. Airway bypass is a bronchoscopic procedure designed to reduce lung hyperinflation and shortness of breath (the clinical hallmarks of emphysema/COPD) by making new pathways for trapped air to exit the lungs.

During the airway bypass procedure, new openings are created in the airway wall connecting the damaged lung tissue to the natural airway. These pathways are supported and kept open by Exhale Drug-Eluting Stents manufactured by Broncus Technologies, Inc.

Patients with severe emphysema often live in poor physical condition, struggling with each breath, states William P Tillis, MD, Principal Investigator of the study at Peoria Pulmonary Associates. A goal of this study is to see if, by reducing hyperinflation and improving lung function with the airway bypass procedure, these patients may breathe easier and have a better quality of life.

Emphysema, a component of COPD, is a chronic, progressive, and irreversible lung disease characterized by the destruction of lung tissue. The loss of the lungs' natural elasticity and the collapse of airways in the lung combine to make exhalation ineffective, leaving emphysema sufferers with hyperinflation because they are unable to get air out of their lungs. Breathing becomes inefficient and patients have to work very hard just to breathe making normal activities, like walking, eating or even bathing, difficult. There are few treatment options for most patients with emphysema and there is no cure.

Physicians commonly use bronchoscopes to examine the airways within the lungs. During the airway bypass procedure
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