Pectus Excavatum workshop at Tenon Hospital (19 June 2019)
This Workshop is the result of the collaboration between the thoracic surgery department of Tenon Hospital in Paris (Pr Jalal Assouad and Dr. Denis Debrosse) and Pr Jean-Pierre Chavoin, former head of plastic surgery department at Toulouse University Hospital and President of AnatomikModeling.
Since one year the head of this department have been trying to find alternative surgeries to the Nuss and Ravitch classic techniques to treat the Pectus Excavatum. As a result, The technique of 3D custom-made implants shows very good morphological improvements with minimized risks for the patient wich is a great satisfaction for the team. The Tenon Hospital is the source of many initiatives to train and inform health professionals, in particular through the online platform "Tenon Thorax Institute", allowing surgeons to connect for free to attend thematic meetings.
The objective of this workshop was to share this experience with many french health professionals who are used to deal with this kind of pathology. Thirty-five surgeons participated in the workshop, mostly thoracic surgeons, but also plastic and pediatric ones. France was well represented (Paris, Lille, Strasbourg, Grenoble, Marseilles, Caen, Bordeaux, Nancy, Rennes ...), as well as Switzerland, Belgium, Tunisia, Morocco, Senegal, Ivory Coast ...
The workshop started with a live stream operation of a male patient, 32 years old, with an asymmetrical Pectus Excavatum (Type 3, Haller index of 3.5 for a 305 cm3 implant). Professor Assouad and Professor Chavoin, from the operating room, were able to comment their work and answer questions from the participants.
Following the intervention, Prof. Chavoin shared his experience of more than 1000 cases of funnel chest and Poland Syndrome treated with custom-made implants, highlighting the good morphological results obtained thanks to this technique and the very low risks of complications. He also pointed out through many clinical cases how this technique was relevant in case of failure of Nuss or Ravitch techniques.
Benjamin Moreno, General Manager of AnatomikModeling, also explained how, from a medical scanner exam, the implant was designed by computer to adapt perfectly to the anatomy of each patient.
At the end of the workshop, Prof. Assouad announced that an online meeting on the platform of the Tenon Thoracic Institute would be organized by the end of the year. Plastic and thoracic surgeons will discuss the advantages of the technique of custom-made implants compared to the traditional Nuss and Ravitch techniques. Cardiologists and pulmonologists will bring their point of view on the potential functional impact of Pectus Excavatum.
