The Surgical Treatment of Pectus Excavatum in Children

Abstract

Although pectus excavatum is the most common malformation of the anterior wall of a child's thorax, today the causes that determine the appearance of this malformation are not known. The surgical management of this malformation has changed in the past five years due to the appearance on a large scale of the minimally invasive procedure proposed by Nuss. Our five-year multicenter study compared a group of 100 patients treated with two surgical procedures, Ravitch and Nuss, analyzing the duration of the intervention, the age at which the intervention took place, blood loss, epidural analgesic necessity, complications, and their management.