[Nuss miniinvasive procedure for pectus excavatum in adolescents and adults]

Pectus excavatum is a congenital chest wall deformity with depression of the sternum and adjacent costal cartilages. Severe forms of this deformity lead not only to psychosocial deprivation but also limit physical performance due to lung volume reduction and cardiac compression. Open surgical correction using stemochondroplasty represented the gold standard of surgical treatment of pectus excavatum. Miniinvasive technique of corrective steel bar insertion was published in 1998. Since then, so called Nuss operation has become widely accepted. Good experience with this type of the pectus excavatum correction have encouraged us to adopt this procedure. We use this technique not only in children and adolescencents but also in adults suffering from depressed anterior chest wall. We present our initial experience with the treatment of nine patients. We describe the benefits and pitfalls of the method which are known to us.