Patient satisfaction following minimally invasive repair of pectus excavatum: single surgeon experience

Long-Term Recurrence Rates and Patient Satisfaction after Repair of Pectus Excavatum

BACKGROUND

 Pectus excavatum deformities are usually repaired with a minimally invasive approach in which a metal bar is used to correct the chest wall abnormality. We aimed to evaluate long-term outcomes and patient satisfaction after surgical correction.

METHODS

 Patients who underwent pectus excavatum repair and subsequent bar removal at a single tertiary care center from January 2000 to December 2020 were identified. A retrospective chart review was performed, and a telephone survey was conducted to evaluate perceived inward chest movement, need for surgeon reevaluation, surgical reintervention, and overall satisfaction. Data are presented as medians with interquartile ranges (IQRs) and frequencies with percentages.

RESULTS

 A total of 583 patients were included. The survey response rate was 26.2% (n = 153). The respondents were predominantly male (80.4%, n = 123) with a median age at surgical correction of 14.9 years (IQR 12.9, 16.1) and a median Haller index (HI) of 3.8 (IQR 3.4, 4.5). Median time to bar removal was 2.9 years (IQR 2.5, 3.0) with a median age at removal of 17.7 years (IQR 15.5, 19.0). Median time from surgery to survey follow-up was 9.6 years (IRQ 5.0, 11.4) with respondents having a median age at follow-up of 25 years (IQR 22.0, 28.4). The satisfaction rate was 96.7% (n = 148) with a reintervention rate of 2.0% (n = 3). The perceived inward chest movement was 30.7% (n = 47) with 12.8% (n = 6) of those requesting surgical reevaluation.

CONCLUSION

 There is a high level of satisfaction many years after correction of pectus excavatum and bar removal. With the advent of cryoablative therapy since 2017, patient satisfaction improved by experience of less postoperative pain. Reintervention rate is low despite some patients reporting a perceived chest wall inward movement.

"When to Nuss? patient age as a risk factor for complications of minimally invasive repair of pectus excavatum: a systematic review and meta-analysis"

PURPOSE

The optimal age for minimally invasive repair of pectus excavatum (MIRPE) is unclear; this study investigates the differences in complication rates among different age groups undergoing repair.

METHODS

PubMed and Embase databases were searched from inception to October 2020. To assess age as a risk factor for complications, odds ratios from relevant studies were analyzed using the Mantel-Haenszel method with a random-effects model for younger vs older patients. Specific complication rates were compared between the two cohorts using a chi-squared test.

RESULTS

Of the 4448 studies retrieved, 25 studies stratified complication data by age groups. From these studies, ten studies compared groups at ages < 18 and ≥ 18 and four studies compared ages < 20 and ≥ 20, and one study compared ages < 19 and ≥ 19. These fifteen studies reported on 5978 patients, with 1188 complications, for a complication rate of 19.87%. Older patients were more likely to have complications in a pooled analysis of studies comparing older vs younger patients (OR = 1.66, 95% CI = 1.28-2.14, heterogeneity I² = 49%). Specifically, older patients were significantly more likely to experience pneumothorax, pleural effusion, wound infection, bar displacement, and reoperations.

CONCLUSION

Increased age is a risk factor for complications of MIRPE. This supports repair of pectus excavatum prior to late adolescence.

Anesthesia and analgesia for pectus excavatum surgery

The technique of choice for surgical correction of pectus excavatum is the Nuss procedure, a minimally invasive technique in which rigid metal bars are placed transthoracically beneath the sternum and costal cartilages until permanent remodeling of the chest wall has occurred. Intraoperatively, anesthesia focuses on three areas: the potential for catastrophic blood loss caused by perforation of large capacitance vessels and the heart, the potential for malignant arrhythmias, and the consequences of bilateral iatrogenic pneumothoraces. Postoperatively, analgesia is institutionally dependent and controversial, based on usage and type of regional anesthesia. The necessity of multimodal analgesic techniques creates a common ground across different hospital systems.