The patient: funnel chest (3 months in the Yan’an University Hospital said funnel chest 8 months in Xi’an Children’s Hospital also said funnel chest, now has been coughing laboratory tests, August 2008 in Xi’an Children’s Hospital x-ray examination is the lower end of the chest stomach backward concave, the distance between its rear edge and the front edge of the spine is 5.5cm, calcium supplementation, wear a brace is not to operate, the previous doctor said until the age of 5 to operate, should be in When is the best time to operate, can I operate now, and is coughing related to funnel chest? Liang Jianhua, Department of General Thoracic Surgery, Guangzhou Children’s Hospital: Hello, as there is not much information, based on your description, it is difficult for me to make some decisions for you. I can only give you some advice based on the general situation: 1. Nine months old children with a sunken chest are not all congenital funnel chests, some of them are pseudo funnel chests. This type of deformity does not require surgery, and can generally heal on its own by the age of about three. 2.So, in principle, we do not advocate surgery before the age of three, unless the deformity is very serious, the depression is very strong and has caused serious pressure on the heart and lungs, affecting the normal heart and respiratory function. In addition, I am not sure what kind of brace is being used for your child, but since the child is too young, the use of a brace will definitely have a significant impact on the child, and with reference to many foreign sources, generally speaking we do not advocate the use of various braces for such a young child. 4. Since I don’t know much about your child’s condition, I can only give you some general advice, so you’d better follow the advice of an experienced pediatric surgeon. Patient: Is my son definitely a funnel chest with that kind of brace? Liang Jianhua, Department of General Thoracic Surgery, Guangzhou Children’s Hospital: Your child is only 9 months old, so no matter what kind of brace is used, it will have a certain impact on his development, and we generally do not recommend using any kind of brace to correct funnel chest. There is no clear evidence that the brace has a definite effect on the funnel chest. Your child has a funnel chest according to the photos and x-rays, but since he is still young, some of it will heal on its own as he grows up. You can help him do some passive chest expansion exercises every day, and take appropriate calcium and cod liver oil supplements. Wait until he is about three years old and then go back to the clinic to learn more about the condition of the funnel chest before deciding on the next step of treatment.