Materials and Methods: Nuss procedure was performed in 140 patients at our clinic between 2012 and 2019 (males: 108; females: 32 females; mean age: 15.7 ± 7.8 years; range: 3-40 years). The Haller index was mild (2.5-3.2) in 72, moderate (3.2-3.5) in 40, and severe (3.6-6.0) in 28 patients.

Results: None of the patients died. Morbidity or bad blood loss was not observed. The mean duration of surgery was 59.5 ± 21 min (range: 30-120 min). The mean duration of postoperative hospitalization was 4.6 ± 2.9 days (range: 3-19 days). The procedure was performed using one (n = 107; 76.4%), two (n = 31; 22.2%), or three (n = 2; 1.4%) bars. There were five cases of early pneumothorax, four pleural effusions, five bar displacements, two wound infections, one hematoma, seven bar exposures due to allergies, and three costal fractures.

Conclusions: The Nuss operation is an effective, minimally-invasive treatment for pectus excavatum. It has the advantages of a short duration of surgery and low morbidity and mortality rates. Therefore, the Nuss operation may be considered the treatment of choice in cases of pectus excavatum. Keywords : pectus excavatum, surgery, minimally invasive