[Postoperative lung function in patients with funnel chest].
We evaluated the postoperative lung function determined by spirometry in 54 patients with funnel chest (48 males and 6 females: age range, 4-18 years). Thirty-one patients had sternal turnover as corrective surgery, while 23 had sternal elevation with absorbable PLA (polylactic acid) strut. The mean value of vital capacity as a percentage of predicted (%VC) was 97.3% before operation. %VC was decreased at 3 months (80.5%), 6 months (87.4%), 12 months (82.8%), 24 months (85.9%), and 36 months (77.7%) after the operation (p < 0.01). In patients who had sternal elevation, %VC was decreased at 3 months but not at 6 months, 12 months, 24 months, or 36 months after the operation, while %VC was decreased at any point after the operation in patients who had sternal turnover. No significant changes were seen in forced expiratory volume in one second as a percentage of predicted (FEV1.0%), nor in the ratio of residual volume to total lung capacity (RV/TLC). In conclusion, sternal elevation with PLA strut is a better corrective surgery for funnel chest than sternal turnover, because of its less lung function loss after the operation.
Tanaka
F
F
Department of Thoracic Surgery, Tenri Hospital, Nara, Japan.
Kitano
M
M
Shindo
T
T
Huang
C L
CL
Nagasawa
M
M
Tatsumi
A
A
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005660:Funnel Chest / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008176:Lung Volume Measurements; D008297:Male; D011184:Postoperative Period; D013249:Sternum / Q000601:surgery