Instrumentation surgery for funnel chest.

Thirty four patients with funnel chest were operated on using the Zimmer plate and/or U shaped rod. There were no recurrences of the chest deformity and 78.6% were satisfied with the result. The low % VC significantly improved after the operation. Five cases had one of the following complications, massive bleeding from the internal thoracic artery, partial skin necrosis, rotational dislodgement of the rod, temporal subcutaneous infection or partial rupture of the pectoral muscle incision. The blood loss ensuing in one operation during the last 8 years has been less than 300 ml and the postoperative bed rest was less than 7 days. All the patients could get back to the preoperative daily activities within three weeks without wearing brace or chest protector. Therefore, our method is considered to be less invasive and very useful for correction of the funnel chest deformity.