Research article
Comparative pulmonary functional recovery after Nuss and Ravitch procedures for pectus excavatum repair: a meta-analysis
- † Equal contributors
1 Department of Thoracic Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
2 Lung Cancer Research Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
3 Department of Thoracic Surgery, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery in Huangpu Division, the First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
4 Department of Thoracic Surgery, Cancer Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, People's Republic of China
5 Department of Thoracic Surgery, the Fifth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, People's Republic of China
Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery 2012, 7:101 doi:10.1186/1749-8090-7-101
Published: 29 September 2012Abstract
Background
Pectus excavatum (PE) is a common chest wall malformation, with surgery being the only method known to correct the defect. Although the Nuss and Ravitch procedures are commonly used, there is no consensus as to whether surgical repair improves pulmonary function. We therefore investigated whether pulmonary function recovers after surgical repair, and if recovery is dependent on the type of procedure or time after surgery.
Methods
Literature searches were performed using PubMed, EMBASE, Health Periodicals Database, and CNKI (Chinese National Knowledge Index) from January 1990 to December 2007. The following keywords were used: pectus excavatum, chest wall deformity, funnel chest, pulmonary function, respiratory, lung function, and pectus severity index. The primary outcome of interest was possible changes in pulmonary function following surgical repair.
Results
Meta-analysis of 23 studies showed that, although there was evidence of statistically significant heterogeneity among studies (Chi-square, 17.11, p < 0.05), changes in pulmonary functional indices, including forced expiratory volume over 1 s (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC), vital capacity (VC), and total lung capacity (TLC), were similar 1 year after the Ravitch and Nuss procedures. Several years after surgery and bar removal, however, the changes in pulmonary functional indices significantly favored the Nuss procedure.
Conclusions
Pulmonary function tends to improve after the surgical correction of pectus excavatum. Although the Nuss procedure was not significantly better 1 year after surgery, long-term postoperative pulmonary function improvement was significantly better after bar removal.
