Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) affects 6–10% of the adult population, is a leading cause of morbidity and responsible for 5.1% of all deaths worldwide. Risk factors leading to COPD include genes, exposure to particles, tobacco smoke, occupational dusts, outdoor air pollution, lung growth and development, oxidative stress, gender, age, respiratory infections, nutrition and socioeconomic status. The sentinel clinical feature of severe COPD is dyspnea on exertion. The management of stable COPD involves smoking cessation, symptom relief, improvement in physiological function and prevention of complications, such as abnormal gas, exchange and exacerbations of the disease. An option for selected patients with COPD is lung-volume reduction surgery (LVRS), which involves the resection of severely emphysematous tissue from both upper lobes, allowing the remaining lung tissue to expand and function more normally.