Lung volume reduction surgery may offer benefits with increased quality of life and survival in selected patients with severe and heterogeneous emphysema. A 54-year-old male patient presented with a complaint of severe dyspnea. Chest radiography and thoracic computed tomography showed bilateral paraseptal and centriacinar emphysema predominantly involving the upper lobes. Pulmonary function tests were as follows: FEV1 1.0 l, total lung capacity (TLC) 9.3 l, and residual volume (RV) 7.3 l. Following a six-week of respiratory physiotherapy, the patient underwent a median sternotomy and lung volume reduction surgery. After linear stapled resection, he sustained air leak for 12 days and was discharged on the 17th day with no other complications. Pulmonary function tests performed in the sixth postoperative month yielded the following results: FEV1 1.9 l, TLC 9.3 l, and RV 2.6 l, with marked improvement in the complaint of dyspnea. No complications occurred during a follow-up of 11 months.

Keywords : Dyspnea/etiology; lung/surgery; pulmonary emphysema/ surgery; respiratory function tests