Female pectus excavatum

Many people do not understand female pectus excavatum. In fact, this is not a breast disease, but a defect in the chest contour and a deformity in the bones. This situation is relatively rare in women. Since such patients are rare and the cause is not completely clear, patients can easily fall into misunderstandings. If the situation is too serious, it is better to seek medical attention as soon as possible to see if the conditions for surgery are met. Clinically, the effect of female pectus excavatum surgery is better than that of male. Correctly viewing pectus excavatum can avoid many detours.

Seven major misunderstandings about female funnel chest should be recognized:

Myth 1: Pectus excavatum is caused by calcium deficiency

The connection between calcium deficiency and rickets has long been confirmed, but rickets refers to abnormal development of bones throughout the body. If this abnormality occurs in the thorax, it often manifests as pigeon chest or complex deformities, and rarely as funnel chest. Therefore, the occurrence of funnel chest has little to do with calcium deficiency.

But to this day, in the pediatric and even thoracic surgery wards of many hospitals, doctors still explain to patients that calcium deficiency is the cause of pectus excavatum, causing children with pectus excavatum to take calcium supplements endlessly. This not only fails to achieve the therapeutic effect, but also delays the best time for patient treatment.

Myth 2: Pectus excavatum is definitely hereditary

There are many theories about the pathogenesis of pectus excavatum, three of which are more representative: the first is the compression of the thorax by the limbs during fetal period; the second is the uncoordinated development of various parts of the thorax; and the third is genetic factors. All three theories make sense and seem to explain the pathogenesis of some patients with pectus excavatum. But not all patients can be explained by one hypothesis, which means that at least some patients' diseases are not caused by genetics.

In clinical practice, it is found that there are indeed cases where fathers and sons, brothers and even several generations of relatives have funnel chest, but more patients do not have any signs of family inheritance. The statement that funnel chest is a genetic disease is at least not entirely correct.

Myth 3: Mild pectus excavatum will not compress the heart

For some patients with mild pectus excavatum, since they do not show symptoms of heart compression, when the doctor tells them that the heart may be compressed, the patients often misunderstand the doctor's intentions and develop resistance.

In fact, for healthy people, the sternum and heart are close together. A normal person's sternum has a certain squeezing effect on the heart. When the sternum is concave, this compression is difficult to avoid. All patients with pectus excavatum, as long as there is a depression in the sternum, will inevitably compress the heart regardless of the severity. The only difference is the degree of compression and whether symptoms occur.

Myth 4: Pectus excavatum can be restored to normal through exercise

Pectus excavatum is a deformity of the thorax. The thorax is a bony structure that has its own specific developmental patterns. Physical exercise mainly changes the shape and volume of muscles. Changes in muscle shape can only cover up the shape of bones, but it is difficult to change the shape of bones. Therefore, it is impossible to correct funnel chest through muscle exercise.

Myth 5: It is impossible for patients with pectus excavatum to gain weight

In many people's impressions, many patients with pectus excavatum are relatively thin, and many people believe that it is impossible for patients with pectus excavatum to gain weight. It is found in clinical practice that pectus excavatum can occur in various body shapes. There are many truly fat people among the older patients with pectus excavatum, but there are also many thin patients with pectus excavatum who even take the initiative to eat themselves into fatness in order to improve their chest deformity.

Myth 6: Pectus excavatum without symptoms does not require surgery

Whether or not funnel chest requires surgery needs to be considered from two aspects: first, whether there are serious symptoms, and second, whether it is very ugly. The former is mainly determined by doctors, while the latter is mainly determined by patients.

For patients with severe pectus excavatum deformity, symptoms are often more severe. In such cases, the opinions of doctors and patients are relatively consistent, and patients often take the initiative to request surgery. However, for milder deformities, if there are no obvious symptoms, that is, the lesion is very mild, doctors do not recommend surgery, which is in line with common sense in general medical treatment.

Myth 7: The sooner you have surgery for pectus excavatum, the better

Most children with pectus excavatum are diagnosed when they are very young. Once parents discover such a problem, they always rush to the hospital to see a doctor as soon as possible and hope to treat their children as soon as possible.

However, due to the special structure of the chest cavity of young children, surgery cannot be performed at a very early age. If the plate is inserted too early, it will limit the development of part of the thorax that is compressed by the plate. For children under 2 years old, if their condition is not too serious, no surgical method is suitable, so it is best not to consider surgery.