Ten-year experience with staged management of pectus carinatum: Results and lessons learned.

Introduction: We report pectus carinatum management over a 10+year period.

Methods: Staged management, with initial bracing and operation for failure or special circumstances, was employed. A newer brace and a minimally invasive operation for PC (the Abramson procedure) were introduced during the study period.

Twenty-one years of experience with minimally invasive repair of pectus excavatum by the Nuss procedure in 1215 patients.

Objective: To review the technical improvements and changes in management that have occurred over 21 years, which have made the minimally invasive repair of pectus excavatum safer and more successful.

Summary Background Data: In 1997, we reported our 10-year experience with a new minimally invasive technique for surgical correction of pectus excavatum in 42 children. Since then, we have treated an additional 1173 patients, and in this report, we summarize the technical modifications which have made the repair safer and more successful.