The treatment of chronic air leakage is still a common and difficult therapeutic problem. The development of intrabronchial valves has provided an alternate intervention for the treatment of air leaks; nevertheless, the effectiveness of these valves is unknown. There are now several case reports and case series, as well as some bigger trials; nevertheless, many of them are hampered by the inadequacies of retrospective, typically single-center descriptions.
This study aims to discuss the history of intrabronchial valves, the present intrabronchial valve systems available for use, and the current literature assessing intrabronchial valve use in this study.
