Chest Wall Clinic Focuses on a Common Adolescent Congenital Deformity

Pectus Excavatum (PE), commonly known as sunken or funnel chest, is a congenital deformity that can cause kids, especially teens and young adults, to have body image issues, encounter challenges when exercising or playing sports and, in some cases, experience other health problems.

Doctors from Stony Brook Medicine’s Cardiothoracic and Pediatric Surgery divisions have created a Chest Wall Clinic for PE patients and their families to meet the surgeons, devise a treatment plan, schedule any required preoperative tests and create a system to follow up on these patients during their post-op recovery.

Stony Brook’s surgeons will be using the Nuss Procedure with cryoablation to treat PE patients, which is a minimally invasive surgery done with a laparoscope. Cryoablation basically freezes the nerves in the chest and helps to reduce post-op pain and make recovery a little bit easier.

Stony Brook Medicine’s surgeons are currently the only ones offering the Nuss Procedure with cryoablation in Suffolk County. The Chest Wall Clinic will be held on Fridays at Stony Brook Medicine’s Surgical Care Center, 37 Research Way, East Setauket, New York. Potential patients should call:

• (631) 444-2293 for patient under 18
• (631) 444-2981 for patents over 18

Future plans for the Chest Wall Clinic include expanding it to other chest wall disorders, such as rib fractures, sternal fractures or chest wall masses that may require larger reconstruction. Stony Brook doctors participating in the Chest Wall Clinic include Doctors Ankit Dhamija, Richard Scriven, Helen Hsieh and Kristen Calabro.

Read the full article on the Stony Brook Medicine website.