Scoliosis in children with pectus excavatum and pectus carinatum

Between 1974 and 1985, 461 patients with pectus excavatum and 135 patients with pectus carinatum underwent operative repair of their anterior chest wall deformities. Twenty-one percent of patients with anterior chest wall deformity had mild scoliosis by clinical and radiographic examination. The average lateral spinal deformity was 15 degrees (range 6-78 degrees) for pectus excavatum patients and 16 degrees (range 5-57 degrees) for pectus carinatum patients. Eighteen percent of the pectus excavatum patients with scoliosis and 14% of the pectus carinatum patients with scoliosis required therapeutic intervention of bracing and/or arthrodesis.