Methods and systems for endobronchial diagnosis
A method of diagnosing an air leak in a lung compartment of a patient may include: advancing a diagnostic catheter into an airway leading to the lung compartment; inflating an occluding member on the catheter to form a seal with a wall of the airway and thus isolate the lung compartment; measuring air pressure within the lung compartment during multiple breaths, using the diagnostic catheter; displaying the measured air pressure as an air pressure value on a console coupled with the diagnostic catheter; and determining whether an air leak is present in the lung compartment based on the displayed air pressure value during the multiple breaths.
1. A method of diagnosing an air leak in a lung compartment of a patient, the method comprising:
advancing a diagnostic catheter into an airway leading to the lung compartment;
inflating an occluding member on the catheter to form a seal with a wall of the airway and thus isolate the lung compartment;
externally applying suction pressure to a pleural cavity of the patient;
measuring air pressure within the isolated lung compartment during multiple breaths, using the diagnostic catheter, wherein the measured air pressure does not maintain a negative baseline value during multiple breaths thus indicating that the lung compartment being measured is not communicating to the external suction pressure being applied to the pleural cavity;
displaying the measured air pressure as an air pressure value on a console coupled with the diagnostic catheter; and
determining that an air leak is not present in the lung compartment based on the displayed air pressure value during the multiple breaths.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising advancing the diagnostic catheter into an additional airway leading to an additional lung compartment;
inflating the occluding member on the catheter to form a seal with a wall of the additional airway and thus isolate the additional lung compartment;
measuring air pressure within the isolated additional lung compartment during multiple breaths, using the diagnostic catheter;
displaying the measured air pressure within the isolated additional lung compartment during the multiple breaths as an air pressure value on the console coupled with the diagnostic catheter; and
determining whether an air leak is present in the additional lung compartment based on the displayed air pressure value during the multiple breaths.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the console displays multiple air pressure values measured as a wave-form.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising displaying on the console whether the air leak is present in the compartment.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the lung compartment comprises a lobe of a lung.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the lung compartment comprises a segment of a lung.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
using the diagnostic catheter to assess whether there is collateral ventilation into the lung compartment; and
determining a treatment method based on the determinations of the air leak and collateral ventilation.