Improvement of cardiopulmonary function after minimally invasive surgical repair of pectus excavatum (Nuss procedure) in children

Background: Severe pectus excavatum in children may result in cardiorespiratory functional impairment; therefore, we evaluated cardiopulmonary response to exercise before and after the Nuss procedure. Methods: Twenty-four physically active pediatric patients aged 9-18 years with severe pectus excavatum (Haller index >3.25) were included in the study. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing using treadmill and modified Bruce protocol was performed before and after the Nuss procedure. Results: Maximal oxygen uptake and oxygen pulse improved by 40.6% (32 ± 13-45 ± 10 ml/kg/min; P = 0.0001) and 44.4% (9 ± 4-13 ± 5 ml/beat; P = 0.03), respectively, after surgical correction of pectus excavatum by Nuss procedure. Significant improvement in maximum voluntary ventilation and minute ventilation after Nuss procedure was also noted. Conclusions: We found that, after repair of pectus excavatum by Nuss procedure, the exercise capacity as measured by maximal oxygen consumption improved significantly primarily due to increase in oxygen pulse, an indirect measurement of stroke volume.