It required oftentimes a big surgery with a prolonged hospitalization and recovery time. So the treatment really is along cosmetic lines.Īnd it used to be that we would offer this surgically. For most carinatum, though, oftentimes the kids are not symptomatic in another way. Even with carinatum, I would say, they should be evaluated and we should determine whether treatment is right for them or not. In some kids where it's very asymptomatic, deforms the chest quite a bit, that's another story. Now, again, we're talking about the routine kind of run-of-the-mill. Fenton: For carinatum, that is usually the case. Interviewer: If it's not physically threatening, I guess the treatment would be for cosmetic reasons?ĭr.
Obviously, the more mild form of this is much less recognizable than a more severe form and/or kind of an asymmetric form which is going to be the most obvious. And they might be someone who just wants to wear a shirt when they're in the swimming pool, and, lo and behold, oftentimes it's because they don't want others to see what their chest looks like.
Sometimes they hide their body, if you will, from their parents, they're not taking baths with their parents anymore. When the child gets older and starts to develop, they often take over their own body. Excavatum can be seen because there's a dip, and so parents oftentimes notice that, especially when the child is young and they're the primary caregiver. And sometimes it takes the parent by surprise, especially carinatum, which usually isn't seen in the small child. Fenton: That is definitely one of the aspects of these pectus deformities that children often experience. Interviewer: But I would imagine that that kind of chest deformity can cause some self-esteem issues for a lot of people, especially adolescents where, boy, it's a tough time of life, anyway, right?ĭr. We want them to play sports, we want them to be active, and certainly don't tell them otherwise. And so we don't give any limitations on the child's activities. The chest will be every bit as strong as their peers. Is it dangerous? That's usually the first question parents want to know. And that's when, because the chest is developing one side or the other, starts to push out more. But, especially with carinatum, it's usually not noticed until adolescence when the child has gone through puberty and started having growth spurts. I said congenital, meaning the child is born with this defect. Interviewer: And is this defect possibly dangerous to a child's health? Because normally you notice it in adolescents.ĭr. People don't often also recognize something called costal flaring, and that's where the bottom of the ribcage, or what we call the costal margin actually flares out or pushes out as part of this defect.
And there's a large range of mild to severe as well. Sometimes it just encompasses a portion of the sternum. It can be symmetric, it can be asymmetric, so it can be to one side versus the other. It must be some interaction between the costal cartilage, or where the ribs come together with the sternum, and with development of the chest. And, like you said, carinatum goes outward like a pigeon's chest. There are two of them, excavatum and carinatum. And I wanted to find out about the condition and about some of the treatments of this condition. It has received over the years the nickname "pigeon chest" because of the way that it presses out, and wanted to find out more information about that today.Īnd we're with Dr. Interviewer: Pectus carinatum is a condition where the chest and the ribcage press outward.