SUMMARY
Introduction: Pectus carinatum orthotic treatment is considered as the method of choice in many European pediatric surgery centers. By means of own orthosis development an orthotic treatment of Slovak patients with pectus carinatum started since 2017. The authors evaluate the mid-term results of this method.
Patients and methods: A prospective study analyzing group of patients using compression orthosis for pectus carinatum was performed between September 2017 and December 2019. A less intensive protocol of orthosis use (8 hours per day) was applied. Demographic data, anthropometric dimensions of the chest, data connected with orthosis usage, patient cooperation evaluation, as well as ongoing treatment outcomes, were analysed.
Results: 41 consecutive patients (39 boys, 2 girls) aged between 10 to 18 years (mean 15.2 y) with chondrogladiolar type of pectus carinatum were prescribed orthosis for treatment. 9 non-compliant patients (22 %) were excluded from the analysis. 32 patients (78 %) reached clinically measurable results while wearing the orthosis for 5.6 months on average (range 3 - 15 months). Analysed patients reached an improvement in sagittal chest diameter 0.5 - 3.1 cm (mean 1.0 cm) and improvement of Thoracic Index 1.0 - 17.4 % (mean 5.8 %) by using orthosis on average for 5.9 hours a day. 2 patients (5 %) developed contact allergy associated with treatment, with no need of treatment discontinuation.
Conclusions: The use of tailor-made home orthoses can be as effective as the substantially more sophisticated systems available abroad. Crucial challenge for the therapeutic team is to ensure adequate patient compliance to achieve an optimal outcome.
Key words: pectus carinatum, anthropometry, Thoracic Index, conservative treatment, compressive orthosis.
Pavol OMANÍK, Natália DAUMOVÁ, Veronika CHRENKOVÁ, Jozef BABALA
Klinika detskej chirurgie, Lekárskej fakulty UK a Národného ústavu detských chorôb v Bratislave, prednosta MUDr. J. Babala, PhD.
Cite:
OMANÍK P., DAUMOVÁ N., CHRENKOVÁ V., BABALA J.: Orthotic treatment for pectus carinatum in children and adolescents. Lek Obz, 2021, 70 (3): 101-107
