Nuss procedure for pectus excavatum repair in 55 pediatric patients

Objective: To explore the Nuss procedure and technique for pectus excavatum repair and to summarize the clinical experience with it.Methods: From September 2006 to July 2008,55 children(11 females and 44 males) aged 3-16 years(mean 5.9 years) suffering from pectus excavatum underwent Nuss procedure,51 of the cases corrected without the assistance of thoracoscopic surgery,2 accompanied with lung cyst treated by open surgery and the other 2 palindromia cases accomplished by video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery.Results: The operations were successfully accomplished in all cases,with the operative time ranging from 30 to 50 minutes,intraoperative blood loss less than 10 ml and hospital stay averaging 5.8 days.Mild pneumothorax developed in 4 cases after the procedure.Postoperative evaluation was excellent in 48 and good in 7 cases.All patients were followed up for 1-20 months without any obvious complaints.Conclusion: Nuss procedure,with implantation of semi-permanent metal bars,can safely and effectively correct pectus excavatum.Easy to perform,minimally invasive and characterized by short operative time and fast recovery,it gives satisfactory short-term results,although its long-term results are yet to be further investigated.