Nuss procedure without thoracoscopy-assisted for the correction of pectus excavatum in children

Objective To explore the early experience of modified Nuss procedure for pectus excavatum without the assistance of thoracoscopic surgery.Methods Twenty-five pectus excavatum patients were treated by modified Nuss procedure without thoracoscope from Februrary 2009 to March 2010.The age of patients ranged from 2.5 to 15 years and the average age was 6.5 years.All patients were performed without the assistance of thoracoscope.Twenty-one patients were symmetic pectus excavatum and 2 patients were asymmetric pectus excavatum.Results The operation in all patients were successfully accomplished with the operative time ranging from 35 to 62 minutes,and the average blood loss was less than 20 ml.Pneumothorax and pneumoderma occurred in 5 patients,and all resolved by expectant treatment.The average hospital length of stay was 6.2 days.Orthopaedic results evaluation showed that excellent in 21 patients and good in 2 patients.All patients were followed up in 1-14 months without any complaints,and there were no bar displacement.Conclusion Modified Nuss procedure without thoracoscope is easy to perform.It is safe and minimally invasive,and characterized by short operative time and fast recovery.It has a satisfactory short-term result.However,the long-term results require to be observed further.