[Effects of surgical correction on pulmonary function in pectus excavatum cases]

Preoperative and postoperative pulmonary function were compared by spirometry in one hundred and eleven cases, from 1980 to 1989, with pectus excavatum deformity. The patients consisted of 85 males and 26 females, aged 5-41 years. In the preoperative examination, mean values for % vital capacity (%VC), % 1 sec. timed vital capacity (FEV1.0%), % residual volume (%RV), % maximal voluntary ventilation (%MVV) were within normal limits. %VC had a tendency to decrease with increase in the degree of depression of the anterior chest wall. Postoperatively, %VC was significantly dropped, although no significant change was seen in FEV1.0%, %RV and %MVV. Seven of 10 cases with low %VC and four of 6 cases with low %VC and %RV preoperatively demonstrated improvement in %VC and %RV after sternal elevation surgery.