Patent ID: 8157837

Claim:
A method of reducing lung volume of an emphysema patient, the patient having a lung with an airway having a region defining a first path before treatment, the lung having an emphysematous lung volume and disposed within a thoracic cavity, the method comprising: inserting a device into the airway in a delivery configuration, wherein the device in the delivery configuration comprises an elongate body having a first end and a second end with a length therebetween, the length of the elongate body extending along an axis, and wherein the device is inserted axially into the airway so that the length of the elongate body is positioned along the region of the airway; bending the device into a deployed configuration within the region of the airway by deflecting the first end of the elongate body laterally from the axis so that the elongate body laterally engages the airway between the first end and the second end and the lateral engagement between the elongate body and the airway urges the region of the airway along the elongate body to bend laterally from the first path to a second path, the second path being more bent than the first path, so as to locally compress adjacent lung tissue within the lung such that a treated lung volume of the lung is less than the emphysematous lung volume, such that tension of lung tissue within the thoracic cavity increases, and such that lung function is restored; inhibiting trauma to the airway while bending the airway with a distal autramatic tip mounted to the first end of the elongate body and with a proximal autramatic tip mounted to the second end of the elongate body, wherein the device is advanced distally into the airway, and wherein the autramatic tips include rounded surfaces; and wherein the device is released within the airway, the device comprising an implant.