1 - Serviço de Radiologia, Hospital Dona Estefânia, Centro Hospitalar Universitário de Lisboa Central, Lisboa;
- Apresentação poster no 57th European Society of Paediatric Radiology Annual Meeting
Introduction/Objectives: Chest wall deformities are a set of congenital diseases that include a broad spectrum of disorders. To assess severity and to determine whether repair surgery is needed, different indexes are extracted from computed tomography (CT) images. We aim to illustrate key imaging features that allow differentiation of these pathologies and to present a sample structured report with the main indexes to be obtained for each type of deformity.
Material and methods: Bibliographic review and retrospective evaluation of chest CT from candidate patients for correction procedures in our paediatric university hospital.
Results: There is a large and diverse group of congenital abnormalities of the thorax that manifest as deformities and/or defects of the anterior chest wall. These anomalies vary by age at presentation, signs and symptoms, as well as evaluation and subsequent surgical treatment. Pectus excavatum is by far the most common congenital chest wall deformity characterized by sternal depression, whose severity is evaluated by extracting three main indices (Haller index, correction index and asymmetry index). Other disorders described in this work are pectus carinatum, pectus arcuatum (also known as Currarino-Silverman syndrome), Poland syndrome, sternal clefts and ectopia cordis, that are not necessarily evaluated using the same indexes. We highlight imaging features that can predict worst outcomes or affect therapeutic decision.
Conclusion: Knowledge of the pre-operative radiologic considerations and appropriate indexes is essential in providing appropriate imaging support to the surgeons performing correction procedures treated by surgery or non-operative methods.
Palavras Chave: Chest, Congenital, Deformities, Pre-operative, Wall