title: Increase in intrathoracic volume in pectus excavatum patients after the Nuss procedure.
abstract: In this study, we present finite element analysis models to calculate the increase in intrathoracic volume of pectus excavatum patients after the Nuss procedure. One virtue of our approach is that the measurement of the intrathoracic volume has no time difference and is not affected by postoperative pain, which cannot be achieved with a 2-year difference between pre- and postoperative pulmonary function testing or any other clinical method. The calculations show that the intrathoracic volume of pectus excavatum patients increased by approximately 2.72-8.88% after the Nuss procedure. The increment curve was patient-dependent, although the increment behavior was similar among the six patients examined. The curve of the increase became flat when the elevating force exceeded 80 N or the displacement of the lower sternal end exceeded 2.6 cm in half of our cases.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pediatric Surgery, Department of Surgery, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Linkou, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, No. 5, Taoyuan, Taiwan. pyjchang@cgmh.org.tw
authors.forename: Pei-Yeh
authors.initials: PY
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Zhen-Yu
authors.initials: ZY
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.forename: Jin-Yao
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: Chao-Jan
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yu-Tai
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Ching
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D020342:Finite Element Analysis; D005660:Funnel Chest / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008954:Models, Biological; D011184:Postoperative Period; D013249:Sternum / Q000601:surgery; D013909:Thorax / Q000473:pathology*