Surgical Treatment of Congenital Chest Wall Defects

선천성 흉벽질환의 교정

Fifty-nine cases of congenital chest wall defects experienced in the department of thoracic surgery of Seoul National University Hospital were analyzed and the relevant literatures were reviewed. They are 52 cases of funnel chest, 3 cases of pigeon breast, one case of superior sternal fissure, one case of costochondral incurvation, one case of Cantrell`s pentalogy, and one case of Poland`s syndrome. Funnel chest affected males more frequently than females by 44 to 8. All of the funnel deformities were corrected by Ravitch operation or its modification except one which was the first case of this series and was corrected by a sterno-turnover. Two cases required a mechanical ventilation for 3 days and 5 days respectively. Four minor complications which were two cases of skin wound infection and 2 cases of fluid accumulation were noted. Skin would infection was repaired by a secondary closure and fluid accumulation was treated by aspiration only. The result are all excellent without recurrence or reoperation. In 3 cases of pigeon breast, they were treated by subperichondrial resection of all of the involved costal cartilages and shortening their course with reefing sutures in the perichondrium with excellent result. The superior sternal fissure which was combined by a ventricular septal defect was treated by a simple wire closure with a good result. The costochondral incurvation was corrected by subperichondrial resection of deformed cartilages and a rib graft removed from the contralateral normal side. The Poland syndrome and the Cantrell`s pentalogy was already presented previously.