2021 Volume 57 Issue 4 Pages 719-723
Purpose: The Nuss procedure is currently the first choice for pectus excavatum in many institutions, but there are only a few studies on the removal of Nuss bars. In this study, we retrospectively reviewed the surgical technique for the Nuss bar removal in our hospital.
Methods:
1) Subjects
Between August 2005 and December 2018 we removed Pectus bars® (Medical U & A; hereafter, bar) of 289 patients who underwent Nuss procedure in our hospital. The patients who were difficult to continuous bar placement, simultaneous operation for other disease and over 16-years of age at the time of Nuss procedure were excluded for this study. 184 patients were included finally.
2) Surgical technique
The bars are exposed from scars on both sides and straightened with a removal gear before removal. If patients have no chest symptoms, the patient will discharge two days after surgery.
Results: The median age at surgery was 14 years. The average operation time was 60.6 minutes, and the amount of bleeding was less than 10 ml in 162 patients, 10–50 ml in 8 patients, 51–100 ml in 11 patients, and 101–500 ml in 3 patients. All patients developed no complications during the intraoperative and postoperative periods, and none of the patients required extension of hospital stay.
Conclusion: We removed 274 bars from a total of 184 patients, and the results were generally good without serious complications. We suggest that this technique is appropriate for the removal of bars after the Nuss procedure.
