Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the world's most significant lung diseases. It is a progressive disease, with irreversible expansion and destruction of the air spaces distal to the terminal bronchioles. Usually, this is accompanied by pulmonary emphysema. An obstruction of the airways, which is not fully reversible, is accompanied by a reduction of the surface for gas exchange and the elasticity of the lung. Static and dynamic hyperinflation of the lung occurs, which results in dyspnoea. The standard treatment includes drug treatment with bronchodilators, steroids, exercise training and oxygen therapy if required. However, these therapy measures are often not sufficient in the advanced stages of COPD. Because of this, various methods for the bronchoscopic lung volume reduction (BLVR) have been developed and examined over the last few years. At present, these are being critically discussed. However, experience indicates that some of the patients treated show considerable improvements. These methods are usually used in the case of heterogeneous emphysema. At present, an aim of research is the identification of suitable patients.

Lung cancer is still the leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide and has a a poor overall survival rate. Mediastinal lymph node sampling is important for adequate staging of lung cancer in order to determine appropriate treatment and predict outcome, as well as to improve research into lung cancer, and for accurate comparison of data and quality control.