Lung surgery is rarely used to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Surgery is never the first treatment option and is only considered for people who have severe COPD that has not improved with other treatment.

Surgery Choices

• Lung volume reduction surgery removes a portion of one or both lungs, making room for the remaining lung tissue to work more efficiently. It is used only in selected people with severe emphysema.¹⁰
• A lung transplant is surgery to replace a diseased lung with a living lung from a person who has recently died.
• A bullectomy removes the part of the lung that has been damaged by the formation of large, air-filled sacs called bullae. This procedure is rarely done.