BackgroundChronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common, preventable, and treatable disease. Despite optimal medical therapy and pulmonary rehabilitation, bronchoscopic and surgical lung volume reduction may still be necessary. Identifying the target lobe is crucial for the success of these treatments. This study aims to compare the role of quantitative planar lung perfusion scintigraphy (QPLPS) with quantitative lung computed tomography (StratX®), which is used in identifying the target lobe before the Zephyr® endobronchial valve (EBV) placement in patients with the emphysematous phenotype of advanced COPD.MethodsA single-center retrospective cross-sectional study was performed in the Department of Pulmonology at the University of Health Sciences Turkey, Yedikule Chest Diseases and Thoracic Surgery Education and Research Hospital between June 2019 and June 2022. The study included 46 patients with the emphysematous phenotype of advanced COPD, who were all candidates for Zephyr® EBV therapy. The target lobes were assessed using the QPLPS and StratX® and the agreement between the methods was analyzed by the Kappa statistic method. Additionally, demographic characteristics, respiratory function tests, distributions of emphysema, and 6-minute walk test results of patients were recorded.ResultsThe median age was 67 (42-80) years and 42 (91.3%) were male. In QPLPS, the perfusion percentages were 7.47%±3.31%, 9.59%±2.67%, and 13.32%±2.59% for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd target lobes, respectively while in StratX®, the voxel densities were 68.28%±9.16%, 63.79%±7.42%, and 60.69%±5.35%. In StratX®, the fissure integrity (FI) at the target lobe was 76.25%±21.18%, 84.68%±17.67%, and 86.19%±13.19%, respectively. There was a significant agreement between the methods in identifying the first, second, and third target lobes in all patients (Kappa coefficient: 0.897, 0.700, and 0.522), and also in identifying the first and second target lobes in patients with heterogeneous (Kappa coefficient: 0.879, and 0.735), and homogeneous subgroups (Kappa coefficient: 0.919, and 0.672).ConclusionsThere is an agreement between QPLPS and StratX® in identifying the target lobe in patients with severe emphysema, including those with homogeneous diseases. However, StratX® may be preferred, considering that it also predicts FI.