Insights in the Minimally Invasive Surgery for Repair of Pectus Excavatum

Pectus excavatum is considered the most common congenital chest wall deformity, for which surgical intervention is one of the standard treatments. Minimally invasive repair of pectus excavatum (MIRPE) was introduced by Nuss and his colleagues in 1998. The Nuss procedure including its modifications has been widely developed and used in the past decades. It adopts the concept of remodeling to correct the concave chest wall. The correction process involves placing the stainless-steel bar under the concave chest wall with minimally invasive surgery, and the bar is removed after 2-4 years of correction. Although this surgical technique has been developed for more than two decades, many concepts still require long-term evaluation and accumulation of experience.

Common issues of the Nuss procedure with ongoing attention or discussion include timing of surgical correction, modification of surgery to improve correction outcomes and safety, post-operative care, assessment of post-correction outcomes, improvement in cardiorespiratory function or quality of life, the timing of removal of the bar, long-term outcomes, and recurrence chance or risk factors, special case experience, etc.

This Research Topic would like to create a platform to welcome pediatricians, physicians, surgeons, and other researchers engaged in related patient care or research to provide relevant clinical and research experience so as to improve the quality of this procedure.

We welcome submissions on the following topics, but are not limited to:
- Technique modifications for the MIRPE or removal of the bars
- Outcomes after surgical repair, including life quality, cardiopulmonary function, satisfaction, et al.
- The timing of the MIRPE or removal of the bar
- Preoperative and postoperative evaluations
- Postoperative care after MIRPE
- Comparison of different methods for repair of pectus excavatum