Pulmonary function for pectus excavatum at long-term follow-up

PURPOSE: The aim of this article was to assess whether and to what extent pulmonary function recovered to normal degree postoperatively and to investigate the changes in pulmonary function after surgical correction and the value of surgical correction. METHODS: A total of 27 patients who could be questioned and examined in person at the outpatient department of our hospital were included in this study. Of these patents, 24 were boys and 3 were girls. Their ages ranged from 3 to 16 years (mean, 8.67) at follow-up. The mean age at surgery was 4 years, and mean years of follow-up was 6.8. Pulmonary functional measurements included in vital capacity (VC), total lung capacity (TLC), residual volume (RV), functional residual capacity (FRC), RV-TLC ratio, maximal voluntary ventilation (MVV), force ventilatory capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), maximal midexpiratory flow curve (MMEF), maximal expiratory flow in 75% vital capacity (V75), maximal expiratory flow in 50% vital capacity (V50), maximal expiratory flow in 25% vital capacity (V25), and breathing reserve ratio (BR). RESULTS: TLC, FRC, MVV, MMEF, V75, and V50 values were not different from the normal values. IVC, FVC, FEV1, and V25 values were decreased significantly compared with the normal values. The RV and RV-TLC were high in 87.5% cases. CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative symptoms obviously improved after operation. There was little airway obstruction in the patients postoperatively. The patients with pectus excavatum should be operated on as soon as possible.