Does emphysema surgery increase life expectancy or does it just improve quality of life?

Depends: For patients with emphysema mainly in the upper part of the lungs, and poor exercise capacity, emphysema surgery, otherwise known as lung volume reduction surgery, can improve survival compared to medical therapy alone.

Both: But it depends on what the actual lung parenchymal disease is. With bullous emphysema involving 2/3 of lung compressing the other part of the remaining viable lung, it is conceivable to achieve both. But, this strictly speaking , is not a true volume reduction surgery which is for diffuse severe emphysema which has a bad prognosis.

Good question: It is true that lung volume reduction surgery(lvrs) has not ben shown to increase survival, but increases exercise capacity and quality of life. One thing to consider though is that one can do lung transplantation after lvrs. So, if you can do lvrs and when the results fail then do a lung transplant, then you achieve both increase quality of life and longevity.

Neither: This is still a treatment where data is very controversial. Make sure you avail yourself of all possible opinions and make the right decision. Good luck!