Recently, Fan Xinglong, deputy chief physician of thoracic surgery at Qingdao Hospital of Shandong University Qilu Hospital, completed the hospital’s first thoracoscopic minimally invasive funnel chest correction (Nuss surgery). Fan Xinglong reminds us that if a child has a funnel chest and it is not corrected in time, it will not only affect the child’s psychological health, but also have an impact on cardiopulmonary function as he grows older. Six years of funnel chest, the boy became silent In the thoracic surgery ward of Qingdao Hospital of Qilu Hospital, the reporter met Zhang Ming (a pseudonym) from Jimo, Qingdao. Zhang Ming has just turned 18 this year and looks very thin compared to other boys of this age. Accompanying Zhang Ming is his father, Zhang Dedong (pseudonym). Zhang Dedong told reporters that it has been six years since his son discovered the chest wall deformity, but has not decided to treat it. But over the past few years as he got older, Zhang Ming became more and more introverted and silent. “When other children are not in class are gathered together to play ball or something, he does not like to go, always stay at home alone, do not go out much activity.” Zhang Dedong said. The effects of funnel chest, coupled with long-term inactivity, led to Zhang Ming’s increasingly poor athletic endurance, prone to palpitations, and breathing difficulties when exercising a little too much. In June this year, Zhang Ming had just finished his college entrance exams. In order for Zhang Ming to not be affected psychologically and physically by this problem after college, Zhang Dedong decided to take him to the Thoracic Surgery Department of Qilu Hospital for treatment. On June 18, under thoracoscopic surveillance, Fan Xinglong placed two thoracic orthoses in the lowest point of Zhang Ming’s thoracic depression to hold up the depression, and the operation went very smoothly. The result of the surgery satisfied both Zhang Ming and his father. Currently, Zhang Ming is recovering and will be discharged from the hospital soon. ”The best time to operate on a funnel chest is 6-12 years old, but it is now generally believed that it can be relaxed to 5-15 years old, and older patients can also be treated surgically.” Fan Xinglong reminds patients that “a child with a funnel chest that is not corrected in a timely manner will not only affect the child’s psychological health, but will also have an impact on cardiopulmonary function as they grow older.” Surgery is the most effective treatment “Funnel chest is the most common pediatric chest wall deformity, with an incidence of about 0.1-0.7 percent, of which males are more common than females, and the ratio of male to female incidence is almost 4:1,” Fan Xinglong said, “It is generally believed that funnel chest is a congenital disease, and the cause The cause has not been fully determined yet, and may be related to genetic factors. The main manifestation is a deformity of the sternum, rib cartilage and part of the rib cage sunken into the spine, like a funnel, so it is called funnel chest.” Fan Xinglong said that the symptoms of compression produced by funnel chest include mild breathing difficulties, thin body size and inactivity. “There are also some patients who seem to be active but cannot sustain it, have poor exercise endurance, and have only minimal lung capacity.” Fan Xinglong further explained that patients with funnel chest often have respiratory infections and a few even have dysplasia on one side of the lung, all caused by compression of the heart, lungs and esophagus by the deformed chest wall. In addition to the thoracic deformity, the signs of funnel chest often include special signs such as forward neck flexion, two forward shoulders, mild hunchback and protruding abdomen, and these deformities often appear to progressively worsen, so surgery should be chosen as early as possible. Due to the large incision, bleeding and trauma of traditional surgery, Nuss, an American physician, based on the principle of high plasticity of the thoracic skeleton in children and adolescents, has been trying continuously since 1987 and systematically reported a new type of minimally invasive funnel chest correction in 1998. The Nuss procedure is a minimally invasive funnel chest correction procedure in which an orthopedic plate is placed into the posterior sternum with the assistance of a thoracoscope, with the advantages of small incisions, minimal trauma, no osteotomy, maintaining the integrity and stability of the thorax, less bleeding, correcting the appearance of the thorax and effectively improving cardiopulmonary function at the same time, and a good postoperative prognosis.