Do you find that complete interlobar fissures on HRCT correlate well with decreased collateral ventilation on endoscopic balloon occlusion in the evaluation and placement of endobronchial valves for bronchoscopic lung volume reduction?

Incomplete fissures are very common and exhibit a great variation in anatomy. The reported prevalence is 17%–85% for the right major fissure, 19%–74% for the left major fissure, and 20%–90% for the minor fissure.

CT scans may overestimate the completeness of the right minor fissure and underestimate ...

As mentioned, there is a wide variation in the prevalence of fissure completeness based on the CT images alone.

One of the commercially available endobronchial valves recommends using a balloon occlusion system (Charts) to confirm the presence or absence of collateral airflow. We perform the balloon...