Emphysema is a common chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and its pathophysiological changes are, in layman’s terms, the blockage of many small airways in the lungs and the inflation and expansion of the lungs. This change can seriously affect the patient’s respiratory function, manifesting as difficulty in breathing and, in severe cases, even in dressing and undressing, and in eating, feeling that “there is not enough air to go around”. In clinical practice, the treatment of emphysema is based on internal medicine, including oxygenation, prevention of lung infections, and bronchospasm relief, but the effectiveness is extremely limited. Statistically, the 5-year survival rate of patients with end-stage emphysema is less than 50%, similar to that of non-small cell lung cancer after surgery. One of the surgical treatment options for emphysema is lung transplantation, but this technique is not yet mature in China, and it is difficult to find a donor and requires lifelong use of expensive immunosuppressive drugs after surgery, so it is still a long way off and expensive (hundreds of thousands of dollars for surgery). -Pulmonary decompression, which has achieved good results. It has been proven that the symptoms, exercise capacity, and lung function indicators of most patients can be significantly improved, especially in patients with heterogeneous emphysema, and that this effect can last for more than 3-4 years, in other words, the clock of lesion development is turned back at least 4 years! Pulmonary decompression is the removal of extremely inflated emphysematous lung tissue to reduce the compression of normal lung tissue by the diseased lung tissue and to restore the movement of the diaphragm, thus improving respiratory function and the patient’s quality of life. In short, a portion of the non-functional lung is removed to reduce the size of the lung. Indications for surgery: The ideal patient for surgery should meet the following three criteria: 1) a series of pathophysiologic changes caused by severe emphysema alone; 2) a heterogeneous distribution of lesions with a “target area” for resection; 3) excessive thoracic expansion. It does not sound complicated, but in practice it is very laborious, because the patient has low respiratory function and is elderly, the operation is very risky, and the preoperative preparation is very difficult (respiratory function training, accurate positioning, scope of resection), and the postoperative period is smooth for the patient through the perioperative period, which also puts high demands on the medical staff.