Modeling of the chest wall response to prolonged bracing in pectus carinatum.

Pectus carinatum is a chest wall deformity that is often treated through the wearing of an external brace. The treatment of the deformity could benefit from a greater understanding of chest wall characteristics under prolonged loading. These characteristics are difficult to model directly but empirical studies can be used to create statistical models.

An Aggregate Sternal Force-Deflection Model.

Understanding the force-deflection behavior of the sternum is an important element in designing devices for implants for chest wall deformity repair. Human growth and variability makes a single measure of the stiffness difficult to determine. This work takes empirical data from the literature to develop aggregate sternal force-deflection models.