Surgical treatment of pectus excavatum after cardiac surgery: Wung procedure + Wang procedure + Wenlin procedure

Abstract

We performed surgery on a patient with pectus excavatum after cardiac surgery recently. The patient was a 11-year-old boy. At the age of 3, he underwent surgery for congenital heart disease. The median sternotomy was employed. The heart surgery was successful, but there was a depression in the anterior chest wall after the operation, which was diagnosed as secondary pectus excavatum. The patient had no discomfort after operation, but was not satisfied with the chest wall appearance. He was admitted to our hospital for surgery. During the operation, three kinds of procedures were used for correction, including Wung procedure, Wang procedure and Wenlin procedure. Three steel bars were used during the operation, and satisfactory results were obtained. Our experience shows that for patients with pectus excavatum after cardiac surgery, Nuss procedure is not only high-risk, but also difficult to achieve success. However, if other procedures are used for correction, satisfactory results can often be obtained.