Weight Gain After Vertical Expandable Prosthetic Titanium Rib Surgery May Be From Nutritional Optimization Rather...

Area of Science:

• Pediatric surgery
• Thoracic insufficiency syndrome
• Growth and development

Background:

• Children with thoracic insufficiency syndrome often experience failure to thrive (weight percentile ≤5).
• Previous studies suggested weight percentile increases after VEPTR surgery, potentially due to improved pulmonary function.
• The correlation between weight percentile, nutritional markers, and pulmonary function post-VEPTR has not been extensively studied.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate changes in weight percentile (WP) following Vertical Expandable Prosthetic Titanium Rib (VEPTR) insertion.
• To determine if WP correlates with nutritional laboratory values and pulmonary function tests (PFTs) after VEPTR implantation.

Main Methods:

• Prospective comparative study involving 35 VEPTR patients with a minimum 2-year follow-up.
• Collection of demographic, nutritional, radiographic, and PFT data.
• Analysis of the relationship between WP, nutritional markers, and PFTs.

Main Results:

• No overall change in weight percentile was observed across the study cohort.
• Patients with preoperative weight percentile ≤5 were more likely to show an increase in WP.
• No significant correlations were found between weight percentile and nutritional markers or pulmonary function tests.

Conclusions:

• VEPTR insertion did not result in an overall change in weight percentile.
• Weight gain post-VEPTR may be associated with nutritional optimization rather than direct pulmonary function improvement.
• Attention to nutritional status is crucial for children undergoing VEPTR, especially those without initial failure to thrive.