"We are excited to be part of this study because currently there are limited treatment options for most patients with emphysema beyond lung transplantation. Patients usually have very poor quality of life, as each breath can be difficult," Dr. Michael Simoff of Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit said in a statement. Simoff is principal investigator for the international, multi-center clinical trial called EASE -- Exhale Airway Stents for Emphysema.

The two-hour procedure locates the best places to use a special needle to make up to six openings into which tubes -- or stents -- are placed to keep passageways open.

Emphysema -- an irreversible disease -- is marked by deteriorating lung tissue that loses natural elasticity and causes the small airways of the lungs to collapse. Shortness of breath worsens as the disease progresses leading to a situation where inhaled air cannot be exhaled and becomes trapped in the chest -- hyperinflation.