Beyond the Chest Wall: Examining the Relationship Between Morphological Features and Psychosocial Distress in Pectus Excavatum Patients.

Introduction: Pectus excavatum patients frequently experience psychosocial distress, yet the relationship with morphological features of the deformity remains unexplored. We hypothesize that certain morphological features analyzed by 3D optical surface imaging contribute more prominently to the distress experienced by pectus excavatum patients as they impact the visible severity of the deformity.

Materials And Methods: Consecutive pectus excavatum patients who received three-dimensional optical surface imaging between August 2019 and November 2022 were included.

Sternal elevation in pectus excavatum repair: comparison of a unilateral versus bilateral frame crane system.

Objectives: Instability in the conventional, unilateral frame crane system occurs when greater sternal elevation forces are required, which potentially limits optimal sternal elevation during Nuss repair of the pectus excavatum. A bilateral frame setup was subsequently developed. We hypothesized that increasing the retractor's stability with the bilateral frame crane system would yield superior sternal elevation, as reflected by a greater lift of the anterior chest wall.

Postoperative chylothorax following video-assisted mediastinoscopic lymphadenectomy (VAMLA) for early-stage non-small cell lung carcinoma.

Chylothorax is a rare condition in which chylous fluid accumulates in the pleural cavity, most often due to iatrogenic injury of the thoracic duct. This paper reports a case of a woman in her 50s presenting with chyle leakage after a video-assisted mediastinoscopic lymphadenectomy (VAMLA) for staging of a nodule suspected of non-small cell lung carcinoma. After the VAMLA, a Uniportal Video Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery lobectomy was scheduled during which the chylothorax was observed.

Defining the optimal annual institutional case volume for minimally invasive repair of pectus excavatum through a systematic review of literature and meta-analysis of outcomes.

Background: The Nuss procedure is the accepted standard approach to correct pectus excavatum. Still, is associated with potential major complications that are in part believed to be preventable as they might be the consequence of institutional case-volume differences. The objective is to evaluate the presence of a volume-outcome relation for the Nuss procedure and determine the optimal annual institutional case-volume threshold, defining high-volume centers.