PURPOSE

Recovery after minimally invasive repair of pectus excavatum (MIRPE) is prolonged. The purpose of this prospective study was to enhance our understanding of post-MIRPE recovery by following patients' recovery through postoperative day (POD) 60 using wearable devices and determine if recovery rate is impacted by PE severity and preoperative physical activity (PA) level.

METHODS

Children ≤ 18 years who underwent MIRPE with cryoablation between 8/2023 and 1/2024 wore a Fitbit™ for ≥ 3 days preoperatively to determine preoperative PA and through POD 60. The recovery trajectory, defined by postoperative daily step count divided by mean preoperative daily step count, was fit by power function through POD 60 among patients with uncomplicated recovery. Subgroup analyses were performed to compare recovery by PE severity and preoperative PA level.

RESULTS

Sixteen patients met criteria (68.8% male, mean [SD] age 15.4 [1.6] years). Recovery trajectory analysis demonstrated recovery on POD 60 was 84.8% (95CI 79.0-90.6%). On subgroup analysis, patients with Correction Index > 40% and preoperative mean steps/day ≥ 10,000 had faster recovery.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients undergoing MIRPE with cryotherapy who are more active preoperatively or have higher Correction Indices were found to have accelerated recovery trajectories. These results may provide insight for preoperative counselling and interventions to optimize post-MIRPE recovery.