What causes pectus excavatum?

Many people have not heard of pectus excavatum, but medically speaking its incidence rate is not low. Some cases are milder and some are more severe, and the appearance is also rather ugly. But what causes pectus excavatum? The sunken front of pectus excavatum not only looks ugly, but most importantly, it is harmful to other organs. In particular, the pressure on the heart requires special attention. Let's take a detailed introduction on how the problem is caused.

What is pectus excavatum?

Simply put, there is a funnel-shaped depression in the front of the chest. Pectus excavatum is a congenital disease with a relatively high incidence rate in the population, generally ranging from one to four thousandths. Of course, the degree of pectus excavatum varies from mild to severe. We have learned that some patients have a family history of the disease. After studying patients with a family history, we found that the genetic gene for pectus excavatum is on the chromosomes and can be passed on to the next generation. From the perspective of genetic terminology, some of them are recessive and may be passed down from generation to generation, and not every generation will develop the disease. Some of them are dominant and can be inherited by all offspring. Another type is inherited through sex chromosomes. Pectus excavatum is a congenital chest wall deformity that is difficult to correct through acquired factors. For example, some patients want to eat more calcium in the hope of correcting their condition, but this actually doesn’t make much sense.

The dangers of pectus excavatum

In infancy and childhood, family members often do not recognize mild cases and ignore them. When the condition is more obvious, if parents can seek medical attention in time, it can be corrected in time during childhood. The symptoms of neglected children may not be noticed until they grow up, or even become adults, and then they become more and more obvious. The harm caused is mainly in two aspects:

One is the pressure on the heart and lungs, causing physiological damage. The human thorax is mainly composed of 12 pairs of ribs, thoracic vertebrae, clavicle, costal cartilage and sternum, forming a barrel-shaped structure with a small upper head and a large lower head. The ribs and sternum are connected by costal cartilages. The changes of pectus excavatum are mainly chest wall deformity with the sternum and costal cartilages concave inward, which puts pressure on the heart and lungs. Some patients even have heart deformation, which affects the function of the ventricles. For lung compression, the symptoms may not be obvious in the short term. However, as age increases and the amount of exercise increases, the symptoms become more and more obvious. For example, they may get easily fatigued, breathless, or anxious during activities, and their breathing rate may be faster than others. They may even be unable to do heavy physical labor or sports.

The second is the psychological impact. Initially, the child does not notice it and does not have much psychological pressure. However, once a child knows that his chest wall is different from others and that it is a disease or deformity, he will often be shrouded in a shadow. Children are prone to personality changes, such as becoming introverted and unwilling to communicate with others. In psychological terms, this is called a psychological disorder, also known as social phobia. There is also a child who is unwilling to interact with others. Even when he is very old, he is still unwilling to make friends because he is afraid that others will discover his physical abnormality. Some children may develop depression or even schizophrenia in more serious cases. Many parents ignore the psychological changes in their children. They only know that their children’s personality has changed, but they don’t notice the reasons for the changes. Parents should find out the cause as soon as possible. If it is indeed caused by pectus excavatum, then it should be treated in time and the effect will be very good.