A new plastic operation for pectus excavatum: sternal turnover surgical procedure with preserved internal mammary vessels.

The so-called turnover operation for pectus excavatum in older age groups has been disappointing due to postoperative complication such as fistual formation with necrosis of bones and muscles. Thus, the need of preserved vascular pedicle to the sternum was stressed in this type of operation. A new sternal crossover operation keeping the bilateral internal mammary vessels preserved was developed and satisfactorily applied on three clinical cases. The results indicate that this method is a useful sternal crossover procedure for patients over 15 years of age.