Spontaneous clinical improvement in a COPD patient

BACKGROUND: Bullous lung emphysema is a progressive disease, which may be partly explained by gradual expansion of bullae. These air-spaces arise after destruction of alveolar lung tissue. In some patients, bullae can merge into a giant bulla comprising more than 30% of the hemithorax. This bulla compresses surrounding relatively healthy lung parenchyma and regression results in improvement of pulmonary function, exertional tolerance and quality of life. This can be achieved with medication, surgery and with new experimental bronchoscopic lung volume reduction therapy.CASE DESCRIPTION: A 58-year-old man presented at the outpatient clinic because of exertion-induced dyspnoea. Additional diagnostics revealed bullous lung emphysema in which the left lower lobe had been transformed into a single large bulla over the course of 7 years of monitoring. His exertional tolerance continued to decrease gradually until there was an unexpected spectacular improvement of his lung function. This improvement proved to be caused by spontaneous resorption of the bulla.CONCLUSION: Patients with severe bullous lung emphysema may benefit from resorption of large bullae. This mostly requires treatment, but resorption sometimes can be a spontaneous occurrence.