Pectus Excavatum

The Thoracic Surgery Department of Nanoori Hospital is carrying out precise diagnosis and treatment of Pectus Carinatum, led by Director PARK, Hyung Joo (former professor of Thoracic Surgery, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital), a world-renowned authority on chest wall deformity treatment.

What is Pectus Excavatum?

Chest wall deformities with a concave anterior chest

Pectus Excavatus is a congenital deformity in which the cartilage and part of the ribs that connect the breastbone are depressed. Sternal depression is often found immediately after birth, but sometimes pectus excavatum occurs during pubertal growth spurts. In Korea, it occurs in about 1 out of 1000 people, and it requires active treatment as not only aesthetic problems, but also depression in the breastbone can press the heart and lungs and cause functional disorders.

[Normal]
[Pectus Excavatum]

Causes and Symptoms

Why does it happen?
It occurs for a variety of causes, including congenital and genetic ones.
- 1.Most cases occur alone, but there are cases where there is a family history, so it is assumed that there is a genetic factor
- 2.May occur during pubertal growth spurts
- 3.Abnormal growth of breastbone and surrounding cartilage
What are the symptoms?
The depressed sternum and costal cartilage compress the heart and lungs, causing various symptoms
- 1.Frequent respiratory infections such as recurrent colds or pneumonia
- 2.Shortness of breath, reduced exercise capacity, fatigue, chronic headaches
- 3.Childhood growth disorders may occur
- 4.Inconvenient to open the chest, resulting in a stooped posture
- 5.Scoliosis may co-occur
- 6.Lack of self-esteem and avoidant personality disorder due to external problems

How to diagnose?

Depending on the part of the body that causes pain, the medical team conducts a physical examination after confirming through questions and answers whether there is a problem with the spine, joint, or brain.

[Visual Diagnosis]
- Diagnose the condition visually. In most cases, both sides of the chest are depressed toward the center while drawing a gentle curve with a symmetrical depression. In the case of asymmetric depression, the right side is usually more depressed, and the degree of depression is more pronounced in adults.

[Image Test]
- After visual diagnosis, chest X-RAY and CT scans are performed, and the degree of compression of the heart by the collapse of the breastbone is checked.

[Pulmonary Function Test]
- Cardiac function tests or pulmonary function tests are performed to evaluate the function of the heart or lungs.

How to treat?

[Chest wall deformity correction surgery by Director PARK, Hyung Joo (Park’s Technique) ]

Dr. PARK, Hyung Joo developed a curved shape thoracoscope(Park's Pectoscope) which was specially designed for pectus surgery, allows mediastinal dissection with continuous contact view. In addition, cardiac damage is prevented at the source by completely showing the continuous contact view between the heart and the chest wall, which is difficult to see with a conventional thoracoscope.