Short and Long-term Effects of Surgical Repair of Pectus Excavatum and Pectus Carinatum - A Questionnaire Study of Persistent Post-surgical Pain, Health-related Quality of Life, Patient Satisfaction, and Aesthetic Outcome

A large number of institutions have reported their early results with minimally invasive repair of pectus excavatum and open repair of pectus carinatum, but only few have addressed the outcomes relevant to the concerns of the patients and even fewer have reported long-term results following bar removal. Even fewer studies have investigated the prevalence and characteristics of long term persistent post-surgical pain following surgical repair of pectus deformities. The reasons as to why acute postoperative pain in some patients persists and becomes chronic whereas in others the pain dies down shortly after wound healing are largely unknown, and why some patients complain of loss of sensibility in wide regions of their chest following surgery also remains unclear.