Groove chest: An independent thoracic deformity

Abstract

Thoracic deformity can be roughly divided into two categories, one is depression deformity the other is protrusion deformity. In general, depression deformity is called pectus excavatum. In the era of open surgery, there is no big problem with this nomenclature. However, in the era of minimally invasive surgery, because the general minimally invasive surgery cannot be used to treat some depression deformities, it is necessary to further classify these deformities. After a long time observations, we found that there was a type of deformity with distinct characteristics, which was the transverse groove in the anterior chest wall, and was significantly different from the hollow of the typical pectus excavatum. This deformity cannot be corrected with standard Nuss procedure. In order to better understand and treat this special deformity, we named it groove chest. We also made a special design for its operation, and finally designed an effective surgical method. Our experience shows that the surgery we designed is an effective technique, which also proves the necessity of treating groove chest as an independent deformity.