Cardiopulmonary function in pectus excavatum patients compared to healthy control subjects

Background Pectus excavatum, also known as funnel chest, is a relatively com- mon deformity of the anterior chest wall in children and with an in- cidence of 1 in every 300-400 Caucasian male births it accounts for 90 % of all congenital deformities of the thoracic wall. Symptoms associated with pectus excavatum are: fatigue, discom- fort, tachypnea and dyspnea, but except from prolapse of the mitral valve, inner structural abnormalities of the heart are rarely seen. - The question is therefore whether there is reason to believe that surgical correction of pectus excavatum will influence the cardio- pulmonary function or just provide cosmetic and psychological im- provements.