title: Correlating Haller Index and cardiopulmonary disease in pectus excavatum.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Haller Index (HI) has become standard for determining the severity of pectus excavatum. We compared patterns of cardiopulmonary dysfunction and their relationship with HI in patients with pectus excavatum.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed cardiopulmonary exercise testing and chest computed tomography scans on 90 patients with pectus excavatum deformities at a regional pediatric hospital.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median HI was 4.9 in patients with combined dysfunction, 4.4 in patients with isolated pulmonary dysfunction, 3.6 in patients with isolated cardiac dysfunction, and 3.4 in patients with normal function. HI varied significantly by disease group (P < .009). HI was significantly lower in patients with normal forced vital capacity than with abnormal forced vital capacity (P = .001). However, HI was similar in patients with normal and abnormal oxygen pulse (P = .24) or peak oxygen consumption (P = .37).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Fifty-nine percent of patients had cardiac and/or pulmonary limitation. A HI greater than 3.6 is associated with pulmonary dysfunction, but not cardiac dysfunction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Seattle Children's Hospital, 4800 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA 98105, USA.
authors.forename: Jordan W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Swanson
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Seattle Children's Hospital, 4800 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA 98105, USA. Electronic address: jeffrey.avansino@seattlechildrens.org.
authors.forename: Jeffrey R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Avansino
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Seattle Children's Hospital, 4800 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA 98105, USA.
authors.forename: Grace S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Seattle Children's Hospital, 4800 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA 98105, USA.
authors.forename: Delphine
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yung
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Statistics, Seattle Children's Hospital, 4800 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA 98105, USA.
authors.forename: Kathryn B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Whitlock
authors.affiliation: Department of Pulmonology, Seattle Children's Hospital, 4800 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA 98105, USA.
authors.forename: Greg J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Redding
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Seattle Children's Hospital, 4800 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA 98105, USA.
authors.forename: Robert S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Sawin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D005260:Female; D005660:Funnel Chest / Q000150:complications*; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index